Our Family, Our Story

The Low Down on Februray No Spend Month

2012-01-27T07:16:00.000-08:00

My February No Spend Month starts next week.
I'm ~~nervous~~ excited. I love how when I posted about it a few weeks back everyone was asking me the "rules". Basically, last year I was winging it and trying to save money so my man and I could go on a trip-a.l.o.n.e.-somewhere with sunshine.

But I really ~~enjoyed~~ appreciated the challenge. We live on a rather tight budget but it was amazing to see how all the little things add up when you take them all away. This year I want to add in a "Simply my Life" factor, which is really more like an escape from consumerism. After reading the book "7" which I talked about HERE, I realize that there is always room to cut out the excesses. I really want to stay away from the vicious consumer cycle as much as I can and February is my chance to put things in perspective. So here is what I am doing this month and a few of my lessons learned or cheat strategies I learned from last year.

Every penny of our spendable cash for the month of February will be monitored very closely. So we will still be paying our mortgage, electric bill and all that jazz. I will only spend money on MUST haves like milk, fresh produce, gas and doctor visits...but those purchases will be tracked.

What I learned from last year is to plan for the expected. Last year I got caught off guard by Valentine's Day. I don't know why but I didn't even think about it and I ended up resenting having to spend $60 on trashy candy and valentines for the kids to take to their school and little gifts for my kids that day. This year I am proclaiming myself a planner and picking those things up this week so I don't have to use my February budget money. So think of birthdays or other times you may know of in advance and take care of them this week.

Also, I know I will have a few more days of down time since I will be slashing a lot of my errands... I want to paint one of my bathrooms so I bought paint yesterday and I will paint in February. I guess you could call that cheating but I'm not using February money to do it, so I am just calling myself a planner.

If you want to stop here, I get it...but this year I am taking it a step further

Now for the Simply my Life (Escape from Consumerism) factor:

I know this will put me in a whole new league of crazy for a lot of people but I am up for the challenge. Especially because I am an all or nothing kind of girl.

I am going to use my time away from consumerism to PURGE! I want/need to have less stuff to have to keep track of. We do NOT need 1700 different clothing options in this house when there are so many people in this world who have so little. We will be purging everything that we do not absolutely LOVE! And to make this hit home a little better...we are all going to pick out our 7 favorite outfits and wear them once a week for 4 weeks. I am not a clothes loving girly girl so this will probably be very easy and actually refreshing to me. It will also cut out a lot of stress with the kids getting ready in the morning. I doubt my husband will join in on this part of the crazy, as he actually has to look presentable everyday... I ,on the other hand do not, and it won't be a stretch for me to be wearing my favorite jeans or yoga pants nearly every day. And maybe I will actually learn to appreciate my closet full of clothes :)

I am also planning on making the same 7 dinners for the month... so the same 7 meals for 4 weeks. This will REALLY simplify things around here. I surely won't be stressing what to make for dinner every night. And maybe, just maybe we will learn to appreciate that we have so many options and luxuries when so many do not. Another benefit to this one is that I can go shopping now for the basic items so my February grocery bill will be much lower and I will only have to purchase the fresh necessities! Score. So far my menu is spaghetti, stir fry, chicken tacos, breakfast for dinner, and soup.. I still have a day or two to come up with the last two :) Any ideas on budget friendly meals is appreciated.

So if you didn't think I was crazy before I surely just sealed the deal. Is anyone still with me? Is anyone intrigued? Anyone?

All in all there are no "rules"... you can do it however you would like...or not at all. I decided to start a F@cebook page for anyone who wants to join in and add to the conversation. I would be so fun to commiserate, share tips, goals and the ups and downs of it all. The FB link is up at the top of my blog for the month... come join in :)

Oh the Drama...

2012-01-17T18:46:00.000-08:00

Oh.my.goodness....

Even though no one would ever believe me... I really want a simple life. A quiet life. An easy life. Problem is, I don't seem to know how to make any decisions that would lead my crew down a simple path. Chaos. Absolute complete and utter chaos is always the choice we make. I'm not exactly sure why and I would probably need a psychotherapist to help me figure it out but I don't have time for such luxuries :)

So with the stage set of my madness...

I'm not the kind of mom that just signs her kid up for horse lessons, drops her off and picks her up an hour later.

I'm the kind of mom that realizes her kid likes horses, signs kid up for lessons, finds a horse farm for the in-laws to purchase (how convenient), finds someone who will give us a few horses, and then goes on a mad search for our own horse. All in the matter of weeks....And the kicker...I'm scared of horses, like as of a few months ago you couldn't pay me to pet one... Psychotic. (I'm also the kind of Mom that has 3 kids and decides to adopt 3 more in a 2 1/2 year time span) Patience is not my friend.

So, now that my dirty little secrets are out in the wide open....Let me just tell you why I have been so absent around here.

These stinking horses are a bunch of D.R.A.M.A....but secretly I'm really starting to love them...

This is my daughters face a few weeks ago when we told her we bought her her very own first horse.....

Keep in mind this sweet child would never ask for such a gift...she's never asked for anything...she knew we were considering...knew we were looking but never once asked or begged or pleaded (she's weird, I know)

So we went to see this guy and we fell in love, the story goes something like this..

He was the most mellow, broke, child friendly horse we had found. And his mane was the exact same color as Kobi's hair (very important when buying an animal that weighs 1000 pounds more that your little girl...sheeeesh)
and he was her same age, like as in born the same week...

and He LOVED LOVED LOVED The kids and a lot of attention (we have attention to spare around these parts :) )

but there was a problem that we didn't realize until we brought him home... He goes bananas when he isn't with his friends (aka the other horses) and becomes...uh....dangerous. Major buyers remorse, wrapped up in a little girls heart. OUCH!

So we had to do the right thing and let him go to live with someone who was going to use him for what he loved the most... trail riding with his buddies.... Major lesson learned, for all of us. It wasn't easy, but I promise you that the lesson won't go wasted. I have already thought of how it will translate well to that first bad boyfriend break-up....something like this-

"Honey, I know you cared for him, I know he was cute, but he wasn't for you, he wasn't any good, there is someone much better out there for you that will take care of you. yada yada ya.....Remember when you were a little girl and we bought you that beautiful Palomino horse, he was so sweet at first, but then he turned out to be not so great...then remember your favorite pony...the one who replaced him and how good he took care of you..... " Oh yeah I'm already saving that one, it was worth every tear. Now I just have to find the perfect next horse/pony :)

Now this is the thing that has really shocked our socks off....guess who else LOVES horses and seems to be a real natural. He could spend hours on this horse and he is doing so well. You can just see a spark in him that hasn't been there with any other activity. His confidence has me giddy.

Kobi loves to give him pointers :) In three lessons he has come soooo far. I have been leading him around for the past few month, he finally begged enough to turn him loose and who would have known. He is doing fabulous. I feel so blessed.

We are having a lot of fun figuring out this whole new world but my oh my is it time consuming. So much for the simple life. But I love that we are all outside together hanging and learning and squealing and working it all out. Thank goodness we have some patient horses right now. Hopefully we will find a new replacement for Kobi and the kids in the next few months.

Blackboard quote of the week revisited and winner of "7"

2012-01-12T06:03:00.001-08:00

Hmmm. Relieved and convicted at the same time. Can't wait to see how the kids dissect this one over dinner tonight:).

-And congrats Gretchen for winning the copy of my new favorite book "7". I sent you an email:)

"7" An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess

2012-01-03T10:12:00.000-08:00

A couple months ago a friend linked a blog post about adoption aftermath on her FB page. When I read this post I realized I felt like Jen Hatmaker had crawled inside my head or peered inside my house and leaked out all our dirty little secrets. Right then and there I became a fan! Or her BFF that she doesn't even know exists...either way it's all good. I got the chance to read her newest book "7" An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess...again she must have crawled straight into my brain, figured out that I have all of this uneasiness building up in me, then decided to spend a year of her life working out my junk. She also decided to eloquently and humorously write it all down and put it all out there for everyone to see.

I read the book in less one day, (of course I was completely attentive to my rowdy brood the entire time)and let me tell you it is a game changer folks. I love it! I can't wait for you all to read it too. You can read some reviews and more about it here. I am having a giveaway for a copy if you just leave me a comment here or on FB. It has me all riled up for my 2nd annual February No Spend month this year! I have some bigger and better ideas as I would love to incorporate some of Jen's ideas of limiting excess into the month as well. I would so love some of you to join me, let me know what you think!!! Please leave a comment with your email address to be entered into the give-away!!

The Birthday

2012-01-02T06:26:00.000-08:00

As if Christmas week wasn't busy enough already..we celebrate 3 birthdays the week of Christmas....Simple family parties are the only way to go :)

I can't believe our little girl is 5...seems way too grown up. I vote we should add a number in there between 4 and 5... just to slow these guys down a bit. Mina's requested meal was stir-fry and dumplings...and a coconut/chocolate bunny cake...

She is our only family member who's love language is "gifts" so Christmas week with a b-day and Christmas....she is beaming from the inside out.

and here is Ty...I can't even begin to count how many photos I have of this guy posing or jumping into pics...he LOVES to be the center of attention.

Jack's b-day is next in succession, I was not in picture taking mode this night but this smile, (an orthodontist dream) melts my heart.

Can I pause for a moment and ask Mom's of young boys what the heck is up with boys caring so stinkin' much about their clothes and the brand names???? I feel a little ill about it all. My first and hopefully only kid that wants clothes (very particular clothes) for bday and Christmas.

And Finn completes our birthday trifecta two days before Christmas . She starts out her day with birthday french toast.

I LOVE watching her open gifts... she would be completely satisfied with one thing from the dollar store and she would have just the same expression of JOY on her face.

If I could capture the look of sheer joy, this would be it..

and this..

and this..can you tell that this girl is just naturally happy and joyful All.the.time! How funny that is her middle name...for reals

and for my keeping it real photo of the week. This is what envy looks like in photos...envy when your sister is opening gifts and your birthday was 5 days ago and you have to wait 360 more days for your own special day full of attention and presents and ruling the roost...

Happy Birthday babies...now could you all just pause for a year or two and let me catch up to you growing up???

Christmas 2011

2011-12-28T12:05:00.000-08:00

Do you remember the days when they couldn't stand each other? Now, Thick as thieves these two. I truly believe being polar opposites is the salvation of this relationship.

We had a super marvelous low key Christmas.. Just the 8 of us!!!

Last year I mistakenly only bought 1 gingerbread house...This year we had 3 teams of gingerbread house builders, and I think we found the problem...see the focus

They are on a full fledged constentrating on their candy constructing

These two also...full on tunnel vision for the perfect gingerbread house

Then you have these guys, the weak links..up to their eyeballs in shenanigans and goofballing around

I mean like- grossss me out....

What the girls are doing....

What the boys are doing...

I love having Collin home...he is a foodie like me. He said he would take over Christmas eve dinner and I would do Christmas...This is what was on his menu... Sauteed shrimp with butter and lemon sauce..

and our families favorite crab cake recipe...served with a salad and big crusty bread...yumm-o . So fun to have my boy in the kitchen with me!!!!!!

My favorite part of Christmas Eve is that we all sat around the computer and found our Compassion Int'l sponsor child. The cutest little 5 year old boy from Haiti, that just melted all of our hearts in about one second flat!!!

Jack read the Night before Christmas...

and I read the story of Jesus' birth from the Bible

all while we had the yummiest hot cocoa ever made ....I will have to post the recipe sometime...dangerous!

Does anyone else think I should fear the teenage years with this one...cause I'm skeered

Finn, open your mouth and close your eyes...

yeah, we are such a mature and posh family...

We started a new tradition this year of hiding a "pickle" ornament in a tree, the first to find it gets to open the first present... Only one child was focused enough at 6:00 a.m. , the same child that was waking me up on the hour every hour since 3:00 in the morning... giving me a full 2 hours of sleep Christmas night. arrrrrgggggghhhhhh

Collin's favorite Christmas present...a dolphin pillow pet... i know he's a freak, he knows it too so he won't be offended that I'm telling you.

He also got a money tree, doesn't every college kid want a money tree over a pillow pet??? His response..."did you see this on pinterest Mom? " he's a freak and a brat... but he loves to help me in the kitchen so I loves him...a lot

the carnage

Christmas dinner, grilled leg of lamb, tabouli salad, roasted potatoes, grilled asparagus, tzatziki sauce...all made while still wearing my jammies...made it taste so much better :)

Does anyone see anything wrong with this picture???

yeah, neither do we :)

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!!!!

Crafting fail

2011-12-22T05:04:00.000-08:00

The kids and I had thought we found the perfect DIY Christmas project to give Papa and Grandpa for Christmas. They both love starting a nice warm fire as evidence of Grandpa here...

We had seen this craft all over pinterest and blogs. So we figured we would give it a go.

One thing I have to say to all those bloggers who posted their how to steps on this is... SHAME!!!! While we are pleased with the end result of this project...getting there was wayyyyy harder than anyone had led on.

The step by step calls only for Pine cones, candle wicking, wax and cupcake liners. We feel like we are pretty crafty folks so we decided to add coloring and a Cinnamon scent as well.

Please note that this is truly the only step of the process that a child can and should help you with. Placing already wicked pine cones in cupcake liners, it takes all of 2 minutes...Then they must vacate the area as they will most like be scalded with hot molten wax or possibly over hear you using foul language under your breath.

This child, my super crafter, is using a super sharp butcher knife to cut the huge blocks of wax into teeny tiny pieces...don't worry this step only takes an hour or two...

You melt the wax, in 15 separate batches, (it takes about 45 minutes per batch)...and hot wax and water will splatter all over your stove and floor and may possibly singe your skin when you try to move it or turn down the heat.

Once you have braved melting the wax, pouring it into the cupcake liners, searing your fingertips, and making a total wreck of every available surface in your kitchen, use a butter knife to scrape off wax and reposition the pine cones so you set them up for another go around.

Keep pouring the wax until the bottom of the wick is covered with wax, otherwise...reposition all wicks and repour...again..

Try to ignore all of your other children when they ask if you are ever going to be done with this project, so you can feed them and they can actually get out of their pajamas by lunch time and maybe have a small chance at interacting with you at some point in the day..

6 hours later, when you are finally done...show off your biggest and smallest creation and act like it was all worth it.

They did turn out nice, but do not be fooled, 5 hour project with at least 1 hour of clean up... pots and pans that had to hit the trash rather than deal with hours of scrubbing... If you decided to try this one...don't say you weren't warned :)

Today we will be doing our annual cookie bake off and we are expecting much better results :)
Merry Christmas!!!!!!!

Holiday Horse Show

2011-12-12T05:10:00.000-08:00

Kobi had the cutest Holiday Horse show at the barn she takes lessons at. I love how it was a "fun" show, no pressure. Her class had a farm animal theme so she (and by she, I mean "I") had to make a costume for her horse... The thought stressed me out but we pulled it out.

He turned out super cute, for a sheep...but doesn't he look like he is just a bit humiliated to be wearing such a get-up :)

Here is a video I made of her class, I know no one will think it is as cute as her mama and papa does but I figured I would put it out there :)

HORSE SHOW HOLIDAY 2011 from amy on Vimeo.

Fun times! Hope you all are enjoying the holidays and soaking up the season. Next week is the mad rush of 3 of the littles birthdays and MY biggest BOY is coming home for a few weeks. I vow to soak up the family moments and not to get obbsessed with all the to do lists and expectations of this glorious season.

Thanksgiving in FL.

2011-12-07T05:15:00.001-08:00

We took a trip to Florida for Thanksgiving....

Oh the sunshine, it feeds my soul.

We are the dorkiest tourist, even when we are in our old stompin' grounds...

Finn cracks us all up... She decides to try to give the passerby's High-five's from her front row seat...

She quickly realized that Florida people are not usually as friendly as our fellow Northernerns, but she was quite proud when she could get someone to join in her shananigans. She is so funny...

So our trip took a pretty crumby turn... Right as we were headed to my Mom's house, she called and said she wasn't feeling well. She ended up in the hospital having an emergency quadruple bypass heart surgery. So we spent most of our trip at her house, even though the little kids didn't even get to see her. We had to do a quick impromptu Thanksgiving dinner...and I am so thankful that my biggest boy flew in the day before... I couldn't have pulled it off without him. He is so awesome... This is probably the worst picture ever taken of me...but my boy is so stinkin' cute...and helping me in the kitchen..i couldn't resist...

Even with the worry over my Mom, we made the most of our trip.

I don't know why, but I have always loved sea turtles...

This big guy has a shark bite injury... poor little dude.

Great memories are built crashing on the floor of Grandma's house with a room full of cousins :)

Cousins,,,

Friends,,,

Uncle's

more cousins,,,

and even more cousins... We miss them all....I had to leave you with fun easy yummy dessert the girls and I made. We were craving some banana pudding after trying some at a hometown diner last week...so we looked up this recipe and it turned out super yummy for how easy it is... big time family hit.

The joys of being 3!

2011-11-04T10:22:00.000-07:00

Time elapsed: 0.7 seconds

The best day

2011-11-03T08:35:00.000-07:00

Halloween day was probably the best day of my girls life thus far.... not because of the candy or the costumes but because of HORSES!!!!

We finally got the long awaited horses at Grandpa's farm!!! We are taking care of these horses that are part of a huge camp program while they are out of season. So these guys have been around the block and are perfect for us, the inexperienced equestrians :)

We have 6 months to find our own horses while we love on these sweet guys. Problem is we are quickly growing attached.

Thank goodness for my beautiful friend and all of her horse expertise. She has been a lifesaver this past week as she shows us the ropes. She is one of my best buds, we both have big families blessed by adoption. I am so blessed to have friends like her!

My heart is so full right now. And not exactly because of the horses. Truth be told I am a total spazz around them. I am not an animal girl by nature :) I am trying my hardest to overcome my fears and flip outs to find my way with these magnificent animals. My heart is full because ever since my oldest girl was a baby I saw myself in her in so many ways. She has healed some dark sides of me, this beautiful child. I can love some of the qualities that have held me back because I see them glorified in her. One thing that was hard to watch was how painfully shy she was. As I really suffered from that as a kid. For me it turned into lacking of self confidence and led me down some really tough roads. But my girl, she is different. She is confidently shy. It's really cool actually.

And something clicked in her a few months ago when she started being around these animals. I saw a light go off in her. She may not be the most gifted soccer player, or some other typical things... but when she is with these animals,,, my jaw drops in awe of how "large" she is. I tease that she has a little bit of horse blood running through her veins.

All of the sudden she has this "don't mess with me" attitude, these horses pick up on it immediately. If I walk into their pasture...they walk away from me. This girl, they follow her around like puppy dogs. She shows me the ropes and climbs around and tacks them up without flinching.

We are so blessed that Grandpa loves this place as much as she does. But I know for sure that if I had to, I would move my whole crew into a trailer to keep them around horses. Now I just hope a few of the others follow suit and fall in love just as much. That would make things a little easier around here as far as carpool for all the crazy activities goes :)

Ok, so we had to get to the Halloween cuteness.

This picture stinkin' cracks me up.... This is my girls in a nut shell. They had to dress like cowboys for a fall party at preschool. Mina is perfectly posed in pink...and Finn is smirking with her shirt lifted up as she scratches at her belly button. Total opposites these girls!

Finn wanted to be a scary witch for Halloween, thanks to some plastic teeth that got her a ton of laughs the previous week. So this is what we came up with in about 9 minutes of prep time... It's awful..I know. I hate that nasty greasy face paint... yuck-o. but she was pretty hysterical.

Work it girl.

This was Mina's 75th costume choice of the hour...we just went with it...10 hour old face paint and all.

Rough looking Halloween crew :)

She got ready in 2.7 seconds after spending the entire day with her horses. She could have totally skipped all of this...chocolate has nothing on those horses...

Finally some Fall Fun!

2011-10-30T16:06:00.000-07:00

Se we are still learning some leasons about how to deal with having a big family... There is a balance we are trying to figure out. A balance of having family down time and having our kids involved in various activities. When we signed all 5 kids up for soccer, we knew it was going to be a busy season, but I don't think we realized just how over our heads we were getting. Our every weekend has been completely consumed with soccer. Saturdays and Sundays,,,sometimes 8 hour days spanning 100 miles of travel to get each kid to their respective games. Plus practices, 3 nights a week at the fields for 3 hours. The hardest thing has been not having time to do all of the family things we love. So yesterday we got an early email that the soccer fields were closed due to rain...but the forecast for the rest of the day was nice and clear. It took us about 2 seconds to come up with our plan of action.

Hiking!! it is over a four mile trek to the top. Finn didn't get her "I'm an indoor type of girl" pass either.

She did ride about one of those miles in "style". She did ~~more than her fair share~~ whine a little on the last half but over all she hung in there better than expected.

Once at the top the kids had a picnic lunch and we enjoyed the view :)

Brothers. I want to hang this pic in their room. There is quite an interesting dynamic going on between the two of them. I really can't wait to see how it plays out. At this point, it's anyones guess.

Jackson is such a turkey....I wonder where he learned to be such a stinkin' goofball ?????

Oh, nevermind. It's genetic, there is no hope.

Somone stole his sisters Haloween socks that are 2 sizes too big :)

love overflowing for this motley crew :)

This is the good stuff :)

Taking in the sights...

Really this hike is so beautiful... looking down over the fall foliage. This is the best time of year.

It is such a sence of accomplishment for the kiddos. They love seeing how far they have climbed. Such a beautiful payoff!

Finn was wiped out and quickly fell asleep in the car. Come on...who sleeps like this????? The cuteness is ridiculous. I love those little lips and those cheeks keep her outta heeps of trouble :)

Hopefully we will make her into an outdoorsey type someday???

The difference between raising girls and boys...

2011-10-24T10:52:00.000-07:00

Conversation with Girl Child : 
 
Me:   Would you like Cheerios or Mini-Wheats for breakfast? 
 
Girl Child:  What else do we have? 
 
Me:   We have Cheerios or Mini-Wheats. 
 
Girl Child: Do we have waffles? 
 
Me: No honey.  We have Cheerios or Mini-Wheats. 
 
Girl Child:  I like waffles. 
 
Me: I know you like waffles. We don't have waffles.  Would you like Cheerios or 
Mini-Wheats? 
 
Girl Child:  Ummmmm.   Can I have them mixed together ? 
 
Me: Child, which do you want, Cheerios or Mini-Wheats? 
 
Girl Child:  I'll have Mini-Wheats, in the pink bowl. 
 
Me:  Ok, here's your breakfast. 
 
Girl Child:  Not that pink bowl.  The pink plastic one with the built in straw. 
 
Me:  Arrrrrgggghhhhhh 
 
 
CONVERSATION WITH BOY CHILD; 
 
Me:   Would you like Cheerios or Mini-Wheats for breakfast? 
 
Boy Child: Cheerios, Please.

****Disclaimer:::This is my experience with the differences between my 3 boys and my 3 girls in a nutshell. Cereal is just the metaphor for every conversation and option presented every day/ all day.

Wanna be a part of something BIG???

2011-10-21T06:40:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Remeber back HERE when I told you about two precious little girls waiting for their families?

Well one sweet little girl is getting one of my very favorite families in the whole world!

They are a model family that inspire Marc and I to be better parents. They lead their children with faith and a strength that you can just feel in their presence. We admire them for so many things but right now we are in awe of them stepping out once again to adopt this beautiful little girl when everything of this world would have told them that they should play it safe. Not step out. Not commit financial suicide but commiting to adopt when finances are tough.....but they didn't listen to the norm... They stepped up big when they decided to bring Pearl home. Now they are holding a raffle to try to raise funds for the orphanage and travel fees. I would love to see some of us rally around this family. They are so deserving.

Here's the cool part! One family has already stepped up and purchased TWO ipads for them to raffle off! How cool is that. So every penny they make on raffle tickets goes straight to adoption costs...not purchasing the TWO ipads!!!!

The deal is $2 for 1 ticket OR $10 for 6 tickets. Drawing will be December 1st. It is a chance to win an ipad, but it is also a chance to stand up with this family and support them in bringing home their daughter. One less orphan waiting!!!!! Visit their website, by cliking here and you can donate in the upper right corner....It's really easy and every dollar counts! Thank you friends!

http://thebarbeebunch.blogspot.com/

Randomness & TMI

2011-10-03T06:03:00.000-07:00

First off, I want to thank you all for sticking with me during my fuzzy photo phase... I have my sights on a new camera and hopefully will be scoring it soon.... I have a few silly photos that I thought I would throw together for a random blog post...so here we go.

My girls are on the same soccer team this year...probably the only time we will ever get to slide on this one. I think they felt sorry for us having 5 kids on different teams so they let us squeak in an age bracket to keep the girls together.. It's pretty comical watching 3 & 4 year olds playing soccer...especially ones like Finn, with no love for the outdoors or physical activity. So funny.

This girl has been sitting on counter tops and "helping" for 9 years now. All of my hard work has finally paid off, now she is super helpful and I am loving putting her to work. She is going to have her own food network show someday.

Just in case you were wondering, this kid is a total jokester, a scootch if you will, an in your face always jabbering about comedian. We love him to bits but I will be honest that I am loving that he now he thinks Jackson is the coolest thing ever...over the past year, he has been all about mommy, every second of every day. He is just now realizing that Jackson is way more fun than mommy...Thank You Jesus...mommy needed some breathing room.

During our weekly house cleaning hour, I walked into the bathroom to find Jackson decked out in this get-up...complete with mouth guard??? Boys crack me up.

Does anyone else bribe their kids with slushies and let them try on Halloween gear to keep the peace during a Target run?, No? Me either..

I think my kid has a triple nipple, like Chandler on "Friends". Can you see it? Is that TMI? Is that just gross? I think it's hysterical and now he has just one more crazy nickname, "tri-nip".

My favorite time of the day,,, my boy reads to me for 20 minutes outside on the swinging bed. It's required by his teacher and I love it.... I can't resist the urge to take his picture when he's concentrating on a good book... but he caught my goofy face this time :) You should be paying attention mommy.

My B-day was a couple weeks ago. My girl asked her Papa to take her to the store so she could buy me a present with her own hard earned cash. I know your jealous, don't you wish you had a florescent orange man watch.... and just in case I ever forget..It is Water Resistant up to 30 Meters. How helpful. So sweet.

Allegiance

2011-09-30T07:18:00.000-07:00

OK, So I know I'm her Mama, but this right her is just pure cuteness. My girl has gone through over 300 hours of therapy since she has been home. She is almost 4 years old. Selfishly it can be exhausting, and some days I feel like we have made NO progress. But this video does give me some hope. My girl is a smarty pants, I have no doubt about that. But I will be honest and saying we have concerns. Both Marc and I feel that there is something that is just "off" with her development. We worry. But this is the hard part, I ask her therapists and teachers and they all fall back on moments like this video. She can memorize the "Pledge of Allegiance" and she taught herself her letters and numbers even before her big sister. So what I hear from her teacher when I question her development is, "I think Finn is doing great, she is the only one who knows her letters." But our intuition is that something is off... the simple things for Finn are so much more difficult. And finally we found someone who is willing to listen. Someone who came highly recommended. Someone who, hopefully, will be able to see through her wide open, friendly personality and see what we see. And part of me hopes that they will tell me what all the others have told me, "Finn is great. Her speech will catch up and she will be just fine by the time she starts Kindergarten." and the other part of me wants them to see what I see and give me an action plan, a diagnosis. We are thinking there may be a processing disorder, but we shall see. I would love to either rule it out or get to work on it! But I'm nervous too. Her appointment isn't for another 3 weeks...oh the torture of waiting. I would love prayers that she receives a correct diagnosis, whatever that may be so we can move forward. I'm so lucky that I get to snack on those cheeks everyday, my happy place :)
Thank you!!!

2011-09-29T04:08:00.000-07:00

Hey all, I just had to share that I am cross posting Ty's one year gotcha day over www.weargraftedin.com today. You can also click the button on my sidebar located just at the top right. I LOVE this blog for the honesty and to get a glimpse into the real heart of adoptive families and I am so happy to be a contributor!

Anticipation

2011-09-26T06:01:00.000-07:00

There is a Christmas morning style excitement around our house lately....

The best Grandparents in the whole world just closed on their farm house....

Said farmhouse is about 6 miles away from our house....and I have a feeling we will be crashing it...OFTEN.

Kobi has been soaking up every second of her horse lessons and I have seen her blossom right before my very eyes. My once shy, skeptic....has found her niche, he confidence, her passion....it is a beautiful thing.

For starting out, we will be leasing some horses from a wonderful summer camp program for a few months, while the camp is out of session.

So the crazy countdown has begun..." Mommy, how many more days until we get the horses?" About 77 times a day. I will admit to being just as excited :) We have 4 more weeks though, sigh. Halloween has nothing on horses. We are set to get them day of or day after, so I doubt pilfering for candy will happen this year. Shame, I so ~~loathe~~ look forward to that holiday. Not the costume part, the greedy candy snatching part.... mostly because I have no will power and always end up stealing all the good stuff outta their treat bags the second they are out the door for school.

Finding her balance, and scaring the whits outta her mama :) No worries though, a very capable horse with a more than capable trainer close by.

Entitlement & Ladybug fingernails

2011-09-23T05:12:00.000-07:00

One of my goals in parenting my kids is to raise them without that spoiled brat sense of entitlement. It seems like a wide spread epidemic of sorts. I may not have done everything right but I know I got this one point right with our grown teenager as he is the one that calls me out when I whine or complain about the little things that get me all twisted up.

But as a mother it is a fine line where you want to give your child everything you possibly can but you don't want to spoil them. I had a bit of an eye opening experience a few months ago and yeah...I'm just now getting around to sharing it. Stick with me now,,,there is a point to this story.

Kobi's teacher just happens to be the most fun teacher you could ever have as a kid. She had noticed that I had painted Kobi's fingernails to look like ladybugs and she invited me to the classroom to paint all the girls nails. They were studying insects and ladybugs so we could put a fun spin on their lesson. See, super fun teacher! Of course I jumped at the chance.

So I ran out to the store to buy the necessary supplies.. and $5.00 later I came out with this....

Now, I will have to say that we live in an area smack in the middle of suburbia, where 99% of the children have never wanted for anything. Most of the children in Kobi's class have a nicer wardrobe than I could ever hope for.

I got to her class and set up my little salon. The girls took turns and one by one I sat there painting their little nails. I chatted a bit, but mostly listened, and these little girls were teaching more than I could ever imagined.

The joy on their faces was priceless, they were over the top thrilled by their little ladybug nails. But it was their words that got me.... "Do you paint Kobi's nails like this all the time?" "Kobi is so lucky that you know how to do this" "When I grow up, I'm going to learn how to do this so I can paint my daughter's nails!" "I wish I could do this at home" "Where did you get all of this cool stuff?" " Do you have these things at your HOUSE?"

At that moment I was climbing towards "Taylor Swift" status. I know for sure the joy on their little faces would have been the same if we were sitting in a poverty stricken orphanage.

It got me to thinking once again about the little things. We all strive so hard to acquire the best of the best or to lavish our kids with all the latest crazes and gadgets. They come to expect these things like they are just a right of passage. We deserve a fancy car or phone or computer or latest style just because everyone else has it. For $5 I had enough supplies to paint hundreds of little nails, it is time these kids want, NOT stuff. The one thing I think we ALL crave the most is someone to take the time to see us, spend time with us, make us feel special, and take care of us. I may not be able to give my kids the finest material things, they will have to deal with not having name brand clothes, or cell phone (unless they have earned them) in middle and high school. But my job is to make them feel special without needing those things. I'm sure I will have to learn more tricks than just painting fingernails, but it is a start.

gotcha day

2011-09-20T16:06:00.000-07:00

So I have been MIA while my computer was at the doctor... man I accomplish so much more around my house when I don't have access to a computer :) Anyhow, while I was away I missed blogging about a pretty momentous milestone around here. Ty's one year Gotcha day. It has been a year filled with witnessing miracles and one of the hardest years of my life all at the same time. For the girls we always celebrated their gotcha day with a yummy dinner and a small gift that we bought for them in China. But we are treading on different ground this time around. Last week when we told Ty that his special day was coming up he started to get sad and has a lot of questions. Not the kind you would expect. He does not ever want to talk about his time in China. We bring it up often or try to ask him questions which he NEVER answers. We all love China and talk about one day going back with the entire family. He will quickly pipe up and remind everyone that he does NOT want to go to China. When the conversation does turn to China he usually starts to question me and asking me, "Mommy, what took you so long to get me in China?" "Why did it not take a long time for you to get Mina and Finn in China?" "Mommy, you should have gotten me first!" "Mommy, I want to be a baby when you get me in China." I think he blames me for the fact that he waited so long.

And then sometimes he just tells us that he WAS a baby when we came to China. I think he would love to just gloss over and pretend that is how it all went down. Denial. I totally understand that. I don't know if I will ever be able to tell him the truth that I had seen his sweet face waiting on waiting lists for over 2 years before I even thought about the possibility of adding another child to our crew. I do know for sure that for the past year this boy has loved like I have never seen, he has the biggest heart I have ever known and I am blessed to be his Mama.

Needless to say we didn't celebrate too much, I don't think he would have appreciated it. He wants so badly to just forget, to be just like his big brother and not have this past. So we just went on like any other day. But I went back to look at some pictures of my boy one year ago and I broke into tears.

In this picture I see a pale skinny little kid. I remember how weak he was. How ridiculously uncoordinated he was. How he hoarded food. How he flinched when you tried to give him a high five. How he tested his limits to see if we could protect him. How he would carry 17 toys at the same time for fear he would lose one. How he was too nervous to leave my side for a second. How he would try to win our love by sweeping, and cleaning like mad. How happy he was during the day and then we would go in to find him quietly sobbing at night. How he would wet the bed every night for fear of getting out of bed.
Now, if you put these pictures side to side I wouldn't pick my boy out of a line up. He is a totally different child. He looks and acts like he has aged 4 years in the past 12 months.

So last year in China I will admit that I was scared...he couldn't even tell his colors to the guides, he couldn't hold a pencil and trace a straight line. His Mandarin, the few times he tried was barely understandable to anyone in China or here. I was worried that he was very delayed... Now that he is a few weeks into Kindergarten, I spoke with his seasoned teacher and she said he was doing fabulous...better than a lot of the kids that have been here their whole life...she said she would have him reading by the end of the year!!!!! I cried huge tears of joy! I am crazy proud of how far he has come. He is so brave and so determined and so loving. and I am blessed!

School days

2011-09-09T06:36:00.000-07:00

The kiddos started school!!! I L.O.V.E. these little people, love them a bunch, love them with all of my heart, so please don't think I'm a horrible person when I confess that during the last few weeks of summer, I have a little countdown to the first day of school playing in the back of my head. In case you were wondering, having 6 kids is hard, like really hard. And summer break is about a week longer than I am personally qualified to keep this crew together 24/7 without becoming homicidal or suicidal...but that is just if I'm being honest. Any-whooo...this is my motley crew early , 6:45 a.m. early, after a long summer break...we all walked them in the first day...Finn is yawning and wearing a shirt that belongs to one of her older sisters. Lord help us!

My school kids! Ty's first day was actually an assessment so he had a week off in between his first and second day.

We are also going full force in soccer this season...yeah all 5 are on a soccer team. Marc and I are trying to figure out how to clone ourselves so at least one of us will be able to make it to each of their games ( 3 outta 5 are on "travel" teams). so 5 days a week for hours at a time we find ourselves hanging at the soccer fields...

Now see this pic.. when you look at it do you get the impression that my girls sit on the sidelines soaking up educational books at great lengths? Quietly, and all mellow like so we can relax and enjoy the games of the older kiddos?

WRONG!!!

This is Ty, his actual first day with his actual teacher... he was so excited!

My sweet guy coming off the bus..smiling ear to ear.

And then this week was the little girls turn for starting preschool.

Finn was just about as broken hearted as I was when we said goodbye and severed the tie that has been between us for the past two years. Her first day of preschool and we were both devastated to be on our own for a few hours. Can't you tell by the look on her pathetic little face.

So now I have actual free time a few hours a week...child free for the first time in 18 years... I'm not gonna lie... it doesn't stink.. Having a few hours to recharge my Mommy soul does wonders for the psyche. And my heart actually leaps at the sight of them when I pick them up from preschool or I see them stepping off the bus. I love these little people!

I survived

2011-08-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

So we moved our boy in his dorms a few days ago, and funny thing... I continue to breath in and out. I wasn't sure if it would be possible.

Here we are, the whole crew helping him move in.

I will pretend that I am not hurt by the look of sheer joy on his face as he uses his own key to open the door to his ~~freedom~~ room for the first time.

What a good sport to let us all come in and crash his new digs!

We had to do a power shop once we hit campus. This here is my boys multi purpose cleaning supply. Not my problem anymore if he decides to forgo laundry day for a few sprays... :)

These two are going to miss each other something fierce!

The have a wall on campus dubbed the free expression wall... where tasteful graffitti is allowed... I would LOVE to do a family photo shoot here, my kinda Christmas card background. So stinkin' cool.

This is the corridor where most of my boys classes will be held. Majoring in Political Science, Minoring in Chinese. The world is at his fingertips and I can feel the excitement.

This is where you can tell that they are all starting to get annoyed at me taking pictures :)

Such a cool campus.

Mr. Summer Flat Stanley has gotten around this summer!!! We have hundreds of fun pics of him with all our little adventures. Here he is saying goodbye to Collin. (he still has beach sand in his hair)

Goodbye hugs.

And you may not be able to tell by this picture, but just before we left we had breakfast together and then we loaded up the car and started to drive off. I had to watch my boy walk away and I felt the air suck outta my lungs.

Such a crazy feeling, letting go. Such a depressing ride, driving home. Made me question motherhood the whole trip home, it wasn't pretty. But, I survived.

I wanna go back

2011-08-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

I L.O.V.E. spending a week at the beach in the summer. I wonder if I would get sick of it if I was eternally on vacation at the shore with the family. We all have so much fun, we are all in our glory...well, except for Finn. If she could have chosen her family to fit her personality she would have been an only child living in a NY city loft. Her parents would push her on the city streets in a stroller, she would never touch a blade of grass or perspire, she would spend hours in her front of the TV with a never ending snack bowl. The rest of our crew would surely wither away if we were stuck indoors. Soon she will have to suck it up and join the rest of us, but we are still letting her play the baby card and she got to spend a week in luxury at camp grandma, running errands, watching Dora, and getting showered with undivided attention. I'm choosing to not feel like a guilty mom for ditching a kid for our family vacation and calling it a win/win. But here's photos of our fun family vacation minus Finn :)

My girl in all her glory. She could play right here all day, every day.

Our favorite beach sandwich..fresh thick mozzarella, tomato and basil...

The kids favorite must have beach drink yoo-hoo aka "Boo-hoo".

Ty's hair is getting a little bit out of control. I love his hair, and I don't have the heart to cut it.. I wish I could just transplant it to my head. It can get so shiny you can nearly see your reflection in it.

We have a sand castle contest rivalry each year.. It all started with this book, it was Jack's favorite a few years ago.

The premise is of course a sand castle contest but the clincher is the winner gets a "bathtub full of ice cream" . So we divide up into teams, talk a little smack, and have fun. Here is this years results:
Mommy, Ty & Mina:

Papa and Jack

Collin and Kobi

Collin and Kobi ended up winning... even though you can't see it, they have tunnels with live fish swimming around...that sealed the deal.

Usually we have a big boat/bathtub to keep with the story for our ice cream reward but this year we had to only pack the necessities as we had to load down the minivan with all of our beach gear, all of Collin's college stuff, and 7 people so we left the bathtub home and just mixed up these bad boys. The winners always share their prize with the rest of the fam...

The indulgence looks like this...

When we talk about our beach trip during the year.. the first things the kids ask..."Are we going to have our sandcastle contest???"

I had this visual this year of us in about 15 years, renting a big house, inviting all the kids, the spouses and families, they each go head to head in a mega sandcastle contest, and I make a ton of these obnoxious concoctions.

I doubt a year will go by in our family history that we don't relive this tradition. It's a keeper.

Ty lost his other top tooth and then dropped it in the water. I picked up at least 100 tiny white shells before I found his tooth. I was determined! When I lost my first tooth I dropped it in a gravel driveway never to be found again and of course, was scarred for life. So I was on a mission to find Ty's tooth in the waves!

Put them boys to work!

So long summer! We miss you already.

Thankful

2011-08-10T11:02:00.001-07:00

I am so thankful to everyone who took the time to read my last post. I am overwhelmed with the sweet comments and emails from all of you. Really you have no idea. I realize once again that even though we come across people who like to share their "brilliant" opinions and crush you to pieces in mere moments. Those people are fews and far between. I hate how I can give their words more power by holding onto them. The words you all showered me with in the last few days, those are the words to hold onto. Its thankfully, all a choice. Why does it take so long for me to figure out the simple things sometimes !
Right now we are at the beach so I am basking in thankfulness. I'm even thankful that I have to type this up on my phone since I don't have wifi service:). Can you spot all the things I am thankful for in this one grainy photo ???

1. ALL My kids having fun (except Finn, because we have yet to make Finn an outside kinda girl and the beach is her least favorite place. She is At her grandparents house for the week and we are all happier because of it. )
2. If you can tell my sweet hubby is out in the ocean 'cause he likes playing in the water as much as the kids do.
3. AND because my hubby is such a kid at heart it let's me let off the hook to sit and enjoy.
4. While we were in walm@rt last night picking out some much need beach snack food I had about 30 seconds to pick out a new beach read and I scored. I picked a good one. Don't you love a good book?
5. My plastic green cup with my favorite beach cocktail.
6. My chair is "for the moment" positioned in the perfect sand/tide ratio.
7. Perfect blue skies and sunshine abound

I'm a happy girl :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

RAW

2011-08-05T17:29:00.000-07:00

I will probably have a panic attack after hitting publish on this post. I usually keep my personal life pretty close to my heart. I know I am laying myself out raw here and opening myself up to so much judgement...not like I don't get it anyway :) Believe me I get it daily...18 years later I thought it would have ended a long time ago, but it hasn't. Every time I tell someone I have a teenager their head spins and they end up asking me how old I am and then I can tell they are doing the math and passing judgement.... I wish it didn't hurt, but it does. I get so ticked when I feel judged because I feel like someone is trying to cheapen the love I have for my firstborn, which is sorely incorrect. I was young when I had Collin. I immediately wrapped my whole life up in this child. He was my everything. He raised me as much as I raised him. We went through some really rough times, him and I. We were alone for several years just getting by but having so much fun together. I worked my tail off working two jobs and he was the center of my universe. Because of these times I think we have always had a very special relationship even now. I am feeling big emotions this week as we just finished packing up his room and loading up the mini-van to take him off to college. It's a big deal for all parents, but I fell like a huge piece of who I am is moving on.

I am going to have to be an adult without him in my daily life, something I have never known. I don't know why I'm sharing this heavy burden with you all. I usually keep it to myself and try to guard it with all of my heart. But I just feel like letting it go.. and putting it all out there.. Here is the photo that just wrecks me. A true full circle moment.

This is Collin and I, the day I graduated high school.

And this is Collin and I, the day he graduated High school weeks ago.

I wish I could go back to the scared to death little girl in that first picture and tell her how everything was going to turn out. That this boy was going to be such a strong compassionate man. That things are going to be tough, really tough, but don't let it get you down, because when it comes to the things that really matter in this life...you will be richly blessed. I wish I could go back and save her the pain, but I know for sure that I appreciate the fact that I have a wonderful husband that loves his family with his whole heart. I think the pain of being alone and scared gave me a heart for the orphan. I am so thankful that I didn't miss out on that lesson. So maybe the pain was for a bigger and better purpose. I know for sure that I have never once had regret. This boy has made every moment worth it! I am who I am, because of him and I am so blessed.

Here is a short video I made for him and we watched it together last night.. we both cried

We are off to the beach in the morning and then we will be headed straight for NC State to drop him off at the dorms. I'm heavy hearted for sure.

2011-08-03T12:13:00.000-07:00

We went school supply shopping a few days ago and there are few things more irresistible than a new box of 96 count crayol@s. We couldn't resist. But since we had a whole bunch of gnarly crayons circa 2009, we decided it was time to dive into this super easy project. Unwrapping the old nubby crayons kept them busy for a bit.

Then we filled up little silicone cupcake "tins", and popped 'em in a 200 degree oven for 10 minutes.

Now they have these super cool multi color crayons and they love them.

While that was going down Cinderella and I made our favorite banana bread.

Wanna know how to always spot a favorite recipe? Page through a cookbook until you find a page that looks as skeevy as this one. That way you know it's a keeper.

Seriously this is the best recipe. Its from an old Kansas farmers cookbook. I had every intent to take a photo of the prepared banana bread, but it was inhaled in moments. I have yet to make this and have even one slice left over to have with my coffee the next morning. It's good stuff, I would even say it's the Tastiest-ever :)

2011-08-01T11:57:00.000-07:00

So did anyone miss me?? The truth is that it's been cuh-razy round here and by the time I get any down time the last thing I want to do is worry about keeping up the ol' blog. Especially since we don't have much more than the common summer snapshots going on. We are having fun and summer is moving at warp speed. My camera is broken and I haven't even had time to care.. so all my photos these days are right from my phone. Pathetic. But I'm going to be better, really I am. Here are a few pics of the last few weeks.

On lazy days, I am always amazed at how much fun a group of kids can have with a hose and some buckets. Seriously hours have been spent filling and splashing. I don't see the appeal but I'm not arguing.

Kobi & Jack did another triathlon and had a blast. I am hoping more kid triathlons pop up because I think I have as much fun as they do. Next year 4 of them will be able to participate!

at the transition area

they are all so proud of each other

Run baby run

Mina and Ty went to Panda VBS, while Kobi and Jack spent a week in Nebraska with their cousins. I'll have to get some pics of that.. Kobi showed cows and lambs at the County Fair and won first place in a cookie bake-off. Her prize was a blue ribbon and check for $1.75. How sweet is that. She is so proud of that check! Great fun.

Ty's teeth are dropping like flies :) His language is getting so much better so quickly. He still has a hard time pronouncing a few sounds but the things he comes up with.. kid is quite the jokester. We can really see more of his personality coming out now. He's starting kindergarten in a few weeks!!! He is excited to finally be going to school with the "big kids" and he will be moving out of his own room to bunk in with Jack, which he is thrilled about. He hates having his own room, but he is just starting to mellow out a bit. He was running on Christmas morning excitement for so long that he had a hard time relaxing when anyone else was in the room with him. My famous mommy words to him... "Ty, Relax" or "Ty, Chill it" must be said 20 times a day.

And for the shocker of the summer. Since we have the coolest Grandpa and Grandma (a.k.a. Abui) They, on a whim, just bough a horse farm a few minutes away from us.. so I see horses in our near future. We know nothing about horses but figure that will change. Any advice about how to find a horse suitable for a bunch of little kids (and parents) with no experience but willing to learn, would be much appreciated.

The owner is of course taking these beautiful horses with her. This is gonna be fun :)

2011-07-13T12:33:00.000-07:00

I have to share with you all this amazing family. I met them while we were in China adopting Finn and they were adopting their beautiful daughter Maylie.

We have stayed in contact ever since. Meeting them and their daughters made a big impact on Marc and I. One thing I know for sure is that they are amazing parents of 4 beautiful, sweet, poised daughters who all have a huge heart for Jesus. Now they are thrilled to be adopting their 5th daughter in the coming months!!

This precious child has been through WAY too much for any 4 year old to bear, more than even the typical orphan which is overwhelming enough. Her story has touched me deeply but I will keep it to myself as the details are not mine to share. I am so humbled that my wonderful friends have stepped up to become her family. They have stepped out in faith financially in a big way as well, and they are holding a raffle for an Ipad and some other fabulous gifts. Would you please consider helping them bring Lily home and getting a chance to win the Ipad! You can check out all the info on their website by clicking here

And please know that I 100% can attest that they are a wonderful family that truly does need us to rally around them to help bring this precious child home! Please check out their blog, donate and help us spread the word! Thank you sooo much!

summer slammed

2011-07-08T13:02:00.000-07:00

I am laughing at myself right now because a few weeks back, before summer started, I was sooo worried about entertaining the kiddos during the long slow summer days. I purposely tried to pack the calendar so we wouldn't get bored. I'm an idiot.

We are going a mile a minute around here and it is just now slowing down, but only for a short while. Marc and I did go on our little getaway courtesy of our family no spend month of February... We were looking forward to spending 5 days on the beautiful beaches of Mexico and that we did, at least for the first 2 days. Then the rains came and hovered, tropical depression style right over our slice of heaven and we ended up spending the remainder of our trip in classy places like this....

It may sound like I am complaining, and yeah I was a little bummed. Blue sky and sunshine are the keys to my happiness, but I am so thankful that I got to spend a few days alone with my favorite person on earth. :)

Every other waking moment of the first month of summer was spent poolside for the kids swim team.. holy cow what a time sucker. but they had fun...

Finn even has her own personal time out spot on the pool deck..

4th of July was a hit as usual. The kids love decorating their bikes and going to a little hometown parade.

And then this week Marc, Collin, and I hopped in the car for parent/child orientation at NC state. Such a beautiful campus, so overwhelming to think that my baby is grown and leaving home, even though I know he is ready for it. It is surely bittersweet. From the way I see it they are going to make it easier on him than he's got it around here. Amazing opportunities ahead for this kid. He has made us so proud.

Summer Chores...

2011-06-17T12:47:00.000-07:00

So we are one full week into summer- our chore chart is going strong and I am loving it. The one thing I've got going for me with all these kiddos is the manpower behind all these little guys. I may have been underestimating them... I wrote out these chores a little skeptical that they would be accomplished within my low standards... or without asking for so much help that it would have been easier for me to just do it myself in the first place... But seriously they are doing really great. For some chores they team up... the boys have one day where they do one load of laundry together (the girls do to, just on a different day) they did a great job, with little reminding that the clothes needed to be moved to the dryer and then folded an hour later. (you know I love you when I take a picture of the inside of my laundry room and post it...holy heck, don't you love all the hanging bathing suits)..

They also team up and take turns emptying the dishwasher every morning. Other chores include, cleaning their rooms, vacuuming, and cleaning bathrooms. I have enough little hands that we can split the chores so that they don't take more than 15-20 minutes of their time...

and the payoff for them is this.....

They earn a dollar a day to spend at the snack bar at the pool, there hasn't been one complaint yet! Kind of a win/win for me as I was hating the snack bar and constantly being asked if they could get junk.. Now they can decide if they want to spend their money on junk or save it for something better. So as I sit here this Friday afternoon, my house is clean, and I feel brilliant. Please no one try to burst my bubble and remind me that I am only one week in... By week 12 of summer I am hoping that we still have no complaints, an empty dishwasher, and clean"ish" bathrooms :) What can I say, I am ~~delusional~~ an optimist :)

Hope you all are enjoying Summer!

Class of 2011

2011-06-13T11:27:00.000-07:00

He did it...he gradulated :)

There's my boy about to walk across the stage... with an ear to ear smile...

Proud parents , squinting and looking at the wrong camera :) but together none the less.

It's so fun to have such a big age range of kids.... One is turning his tassel,, one walks away from us pouting because she couldn't have candy she found stashed in my purse... Gotta love the crossed armed pouting stance. If it wasn't so cute it would probably drive me batty.

Way to go C...much love to you... You make me so stinkin' proud and I can't wait to see what amazing things you accomplish in the next few years! Dream big!

Schoolz out!!!

2011-06-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

Is the month of May just absolutely Crazy Bananas at your house? I don't remember it being this crazy but holy cow-ser..... nuts I tell ya.

Ty had his preschool graduation last week...

I tried to take photos of him getting his "diploma" and his performance, but my camera is acting up and since he was moving... my pictures stink... I'm so not ready to spend any moola on a new camera right now... so all my favorite followers will have to bear with me and my grainy pics...

Can you tell I think this kid is ridiculously cute.. I do, I really do. He is about to loose his top front tooth, and it makes me sad... I want to hold on to every "baby" thing about him for as long as I can.

I'm just surrounded by good looking men :) I'll tell you, I am one lucky gal :)

After Ty's graduation, the preschool had a little carnival and all the kids had a blast.

I think I snapped this pic the one second he wasn't smiling the whole afternoon .

And I just have to brag on this guy for a second, I know that is hands down the most annoying part of reading blogs,,,, "oh look here at my perfect life and my perfect kids" Well we are farrrrr from perfect...but I am stinkin' proud of this kid... I hope one day I can act as much of a grown up as he does. Last week there were soccer tryouts for a competitive soccer team. I had my reservations about signing him up.. he is 7 for goodness sake. But at his rec - coaches advice we had him sign up. He is a year younger than most of the kids on the team...so we told him he was just going to do a 2 day soccer clinic. We didn't want to put any pressure on him, or disappoint him. So we just said go play and have fun. I know a lot of the kids were super nervous. But Jack was just having a great time. This boy ALWAYS gives 110% no matter what the conditions.. so we saw no need to hype him up.. Well he made the team and it was so fun to tell him, since he had no idea he was even trying out. We are so proud of him... mostly because he always has such a great attitude and he always works hard and he never complains...(see, told ya I wanted to be more like him) Ok,, Mama brag over :)

Minutes ago my biggest boy just walked in the door from his last official day of high school. So surreal. I think having a houseful of kids lessens the blow for me a little bit. I love this boy with everything that I am but I know for sure he is ready for this next big step. He will be home for the summer and I better not catch him doing to much of this in the long afternoons.....

I have issue with lazy kids.... I will admit that my issue is 90% based on pure jealousy... oh to be a lazy.. I dream of being lazy with nothing to do, no haunting to do lists... He does have a job though...but now that school is out, and wrestling is over... It's gonna be strange to not see him going a mile a minute...

Ty also had his last soccer game of the season...boy loves to play soccer. Hopefully next year it will be a bit easier for him to keep up with his peers. He has come a LONG way in the past few months.

The sideline crew :)

We have a super busy week planned this week, with Collin's graduation and family coming in town... so it just may be quiet around here for a couple days... Enjoy the first days of summer!!!

SUMMER BUCKET LIST

2011-06-02T14:23:00.000-07:00

the littles are now out of preschool and the bigs are counting down their last few days of school. i am trying not to go into mommy panic over how i am going to entertain all these kiddos during the long hot summer days.   i love my kids, i really do, love every stinkin' one of them, sure sometimes they have an off day. and with as many kids as I have at least one is having an off day everyday...not me though. i am always on my game, always chipper, patient, friendly, calm and in control of my emotions ( bwah-haaa-haaaa-haaa).

so instead of panicking, i'm obsessing and making lists of fun, easy, not too messy and budget friendly ideas to keep us going. no doubt most of our days will be spent poolside or on the sidelines somewhere, but this list makes me feel a little more in control of the situation.   we just might not get to everyone of these, but it makes me feel better to have a plan. gotta keep them thinking i have things under control or my gig is up :)
so here is our summer bucket list:

GO TO POOL
GIVE EACH KID $5 @ THE FARMERS MARKET...MAKE A STIR-FRY FOR DINNER
FINISH READING ROOM
GO TO INDOOR PLAYGROUND
GO TO POOL
SHARK WATERMELON
GO TO POOL
GO CAMPING
PICK STRAWBERRIES
GO TO POOL
MAKE ICE CREAM
SONIC HAPPY HOUR
WATER BALLOON FIGHT
SLIP AND SLIDE
GO TO POOL
SUMMER FLAT STANLEY
TIE DYE
GO GET DONUTS IN OUR JAMMIES
MAKE UP A SECRET HAND SHAKE
PAINT A ROCK/ BUG GARDEN
SCAVENGER HUNT
WASH CARS IN BATHING SUITS
CHOCOLATE COVERED MARSHMALLOWS ON A STICK WITH COLORFUL SPRINKLES
DECORATE BIKES FOR 4TH OF JULY
ORDER PIZZA AT THE POOL
LEARN NEW HAND-CLAP/SONG GAMES ON YOUTUBE
FREE (OR DOLLAR) MOVIES
FREE BOWLING
GRILL PIZZA'S USING TORTILLAS FOR CRUST
RAINBOW PUDDING POPS  see link
(POOL)NOODLE AND BALLOON BASEBALL
LIVING ROOM CAMPOUT
ROAST HOT DOGS AND SMORES OVER CAMPFIRE
SIDEWALK CHALK PAINT  see link
LET ALL THE KIDS PICK OUT 1 FUNKY SNACK TO SHARE AT TR@DER JOES
CHUCK E CHEE@E
BIG BUBBLES  see link
BUTTERFLY ART  see link
PAINT
BEACH
SAND CASTLE CONTEST
MAKE AN ONLINE SCRAPBOOK AS WE GO, AND ORDER IT OUT RIGHT BEFORE SCHOOL STARTS

now if i were a really nice mommy, i would post this up somewhere so that all of the kids could see it and get excited. then we could cross things off the list as we went....but i'm not that good, i rather keep a few tricks up my sleeve. and truth be told, if i let them know that i was planning on taking them for donuts in their p.j.'s, i wouldn't hear the end of it and it would completely suck the fun out of it...for me at least. My every moment would be consumed with " mama, mama, can we go get donuts now? how about now? what if we put our jammies back on? what about later? are we going to go tomorrow? but you said we were gonna do it? you wrote it there? when mama, when? how about now mama? " so i'm keeping this list guarded and completely to myself. but i thought i would share it with y'all. and please oh please if you have any other ideas by all means share 'em!!!

Serious Summer Fun

2011-05-31T19:09:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we tend to make a scene in simple places...We get a lot of looks and pointed fingers but mostly smiles... we surely weren't being very conspicuous on our recent trip to Low@s... we were on a mission. We had big plans for this weekend....

And this was what we were after....

**** DISCLAIMER, although this is what we ended up buying the first time around, we (and by we, I mean my hubby) ended up going back to the store to return this one and get the 10 ft by 100 ft plastic sheeting...this here 10 x 25 ft is for wimps :)

I say, "go big or go home" ... wait we were home, never mind.

I'm sure I will be pulling this puppy out several times this summer. I mean seriously, I think I had the most fun out of everyone... I even have a bruise on my bum to prove it... sorry , T.M.I. for sure.

This is just one of those simple things that I have a feel like my kids are going to remember for a really long time. I think I am going to start a "making memories" file here on the blog. I have really been thinking and noticing a lot lately that my kids seem to remember and love the simple things we do the best. It makes me feel better when I'm stressing all of the things we can't do for our large brood,,, to remember that they don't talk about the Disn@y trips...they talk about the times when we do things like this...make the World's largest slip 'n slide (don't burst their bubble and tell them otherwise, they were talking about calling Guin@ss and I wasn't about to stop them)

100 foot plastic sheeting, 1 garden hose, & a bottle of dish soap === HOURS of fun!

Easy summer recipes...the Cheatin' chicken :)

2011-05-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

So I had a better idea for simplified summer cooking! My very favorite CHEAT- the rotisserie (or roasted) chicken. You know the ones you buy at c@stco or s@ms. When I go, I always pick up a few and the first night we eat the chicken with a few different sides. Then I pull of all the meat from the rest of the chickens and I always know I have some easy dinners the next couple of nights. I decided to write up a few of my favorite ideas using the leftover chicken. All of these recipe ideas can be made in under 10 minutes of hands on time since your chicken is already DONE! I went ahead and left out all the soup and casserole recipes because they just don't fit in with my idea of summer cooking.

Also, sometimes I roast my own and I use this recipe here, I even sometimes use a rotisserie spice mix I buy at the grocery so I really just have to throw them in the oven for a few hours, I add some garlic potatoes and other roasted veggies and we usually make a nice Sunday dinner out of it.. I of course make 2 or 3 extra chickens to have left-overs for the next few nights {yes we eat a lot :) }

So here you go. All of the things I can think of making with a rotisserie Chicken as I sit here on the sidelines of the soccer field:)

"Greek"-ingredients Chicken, sun-dried (or fresh) tomatoes, olives, feta, cucumber,Artichokes, mushrooms, lemon , onion, parsley, Rosemary, Italian dressing
Pick your favorites of the above ingredients and put them on a salad, on a pizza, over bow-tie noodles, over couscous, in a panini,or in a pita with tzatziki sauce
Here is a step by step of our favorite I posted on the blog a while back

"ASIAN" -
chicken fried rice
quick stir-fry with a bag of frozen Asian veggies over rice or noodles
Asian slaw: Prepared bagged cole-slaw mix add, ginger, soy sauce, rice vinegar, a bit of sugar, red pepper flakes...top with chicken

MEXICAN ;Chicken, salsa, black beans and corn,cilantro, Lime, refried black beans, sour cream, black olives, green onions, lettuce,tomato, tortilla chips, taco seasoning
Take any combo of above and put them on a salad, in a tortilla, on pizza, over yellow, white or brown rice, over chips to make nachos, or on a tortilla and bake for a true mexican pizza.

Chicken salad, so many ways...
chicken simply over greens with favorite toppings. My kids always like when I do a salad loaded with cheese, bacon bits, tomatoes and croutons, throw the healthy benefits right out the window :)
Cobb Salad
Chicken Ceasar
Asian chicken salad: with chicken, mandarin oranges, veggies, sprouts, chow mein noodles and ginger dressing.

other quickies:
Super Easy Chicken pasta: Chicken, frozen peas, add a tub of that new philladelphi@ cooking cream. heat. Pour over cooked bowtie noodles. add some more Parmesan if you'd like. this dinner takes about 7 minutes to make and my kids eat it up like mad.

Buffalo Chicken dip: You may want to consult your physician before making this one :)
Spread a brick of cream cheese on the bottom of a pie pan, mix shredded chicken with fr@nks red hot sauce and pour on top of the cream cheese mixture. Finally top with blue cheese dressing and bake until all hot and bubbly.. the blue cheese will just start to brown. Serve with Frito scoops... I even freeze this dip and take it to the beach.. it sure isn't pretty, but it satisfies the meanest of junk food cravings :)

BBQ Chicken sandwiches : shred chicken, add BBQ sauce ,heat, and put on a bun with some slaw.
BBQ chicken pizza. you can use the bbq sauce for the "pizza sauce" sliced red onions (or caramelized onions) , chicken, cilantro, and cheese and bake

One of our family favorites :PANINI's

To make: use any type of bakery bread, you can grill the sandwiches with either sliced bread or rolls. Brush with olive oil or butter and toast in a panini press( or in a pan with a foil wrapped brick on top, or if your fancy like me, on a Ge@rge Form@n :) . Another beautiful thing about these yummy sandwiches is that you can assemble them before hand and then grill them up at dinner time!

Here is a few good panini's using your already cooked chicken:

Chicken, mozzarella, Tomato and Basil (you can even leave out the chicken on this one like we did HERE)
Chicken, salami or prosciutto, basil, fontina, and tomato on rolls with a bit of italian dressing and maybe even a sprinkle of oregano
chicken, apples, & cheddar
chicken, bacon, avocado (or guacamole)& provolone
chicken, pesto, tomato, & mozzarella
chicken, mayo, artichoke, squeeze of lemon, greens,& provolone
chicken, ham, provolone cheese, Fresh spinach leaves, or baby lettuce and a bit of mayo
chicken,salt and pepper, olive oil, drained jarred roasted red peppers -- chopped, kalamata olives, fresh basil and provolone cheese

Let me know if you have any other ideas. I'm sure I think of a ton more once I hit the publish button :)

Counting down to Summer fun..

2011-05-18T18:46:00.000-07:00

Can you feel the excitement of summer???

I sure can and I've been busy getting my tail in gear finishing up a few projects around the house. I'm on a mission to channel my inner baby-sitter, "say what???" Well my goal is to be able to play along with the kiddos all summer long... you know, like a baby-sitter does. I really want to be conscious of doing anything that doesn't have to be done. When the kids are having a lazy day watching a movie...I want to be right there in the thick of it... not scrambling to get anything done. So standards will be lowered... chore charts will be made [we gotta share the love :) ]...and I am thinking of pulling out this trick again...

maybe with some more summery/healthy meals. I'll have to get on that planning though, only a few more days of school. If you want the recipes/instructions from my last freezer filling extravaganza,, you can check out the link here.

My super special Mudders day

2011-05-09T05:26:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a great Mother's Day! Isn't it such a great day! I almost have a little Mama guilt over how much I enjoyed my weekend. Yes-sirreeeee. I milked it, and made my day into a weekend. I'm not the kind a girl that wants a day at the spa... I'm much more simple than that...but my simplicity can't be bought.... it takes time :) My amazing, wonderful, thoughtful hubby pretty much gave me the weekend to do and be gone whenever and however I wanted.. so I took him up on it and spent the last two days being lazy and frivolous with my time and lovin' it. Saturday I went and drove around a massive yard sale and picked up a bunch of goodies one of which was this book that I had been wanting to read....

then I bopped around M@rshalls & homego@ds for way longer than I necessary and even tried on a bunch of clothes I didn't need. I ended up buying the perfect little black dress that I have absolutely no where to wear it but I don't care... for $25 it made my stinkin' day cause it fits like a glove in all the right places...and not in all the wrong places if you know what i'm sayin' :) Does wonders for a girls psyche...I'm a simple girl :)

Then I came home, kissed my babies and headed outside for my hammock with my book under my arm. b.l.i.s.s

and it is a great book. so i spend the rest of the afternoon, sipping my sweet tea and reading.

Then, Sunday morning we go to church, then out to lunch at my favorite sandwich shop. then home. I grab my book, grab a handful of dark chocolates and shove them in my pockets of my jean shorts like a 5 year old and sneak out back to my hammock...Here's the message in one of my chocolates...made me smile. big.

I lay around so much this weekend that I finish the entire novel in less than 24 hours. Great book, you have to read it, love the characters.

We also do the rounds to soccer games, which is so fun. And the kids made me a big gooey chocolate cake with an obnoxious amount of sprinkles and frosting... Yeah I accomplished nothing but it was pure perfection... to have this time that I just wasted being frivolous and unbusy and unrushed. I don't get much time to just soak up books or just be, I feel like I'm always rushing and doing. My adorable hubby knows me so well... he knows what I appreciate and how I feel appreciated. I know my weekend doesn't sound glamorous but to me it was pure perfection. I felt like I was on vacation.Oh did I mention he also got all the laundry caught up so I don't have to do it tomorrow on my laundry day!!! That is no small task of this rather large crew.... I didn't even make or think up one meal this weekend.. I was here in body but not mind... I feel recharged and ready to hit the ground running tomorrow! I love being a Mommy, I love that I have such a great husband that appreciates and supports me. (on a side note,,, can you count how many chins I have in the following photo..I counted 37. oh well) I am such a lucky girl! I feel so blessed this mothers day... I hope you do to. Big hugs to all my Mommy friends out there!!!

Do you know where our Mama is???

2011-05-03T17:44:00.000-07:00

Try as I may I can not pull myself away from seeing the children who are waiting and having my heart broken time and time again. I meet people almost everyday that have a heart for adoption but there is this looming fear of the "what-if's"... What I really want to say is, "What if...you never open your heart to this child and you miss out on the biggest blessing of your life?" "What if...because of fear of stepping out of your comfort zone, another child never knows what having a family means." "What if... this child has a heart so big that they beam every time you walk into the room and they love you for the rest of your life." "What if... you could be the hands and feet of Jesus in the crazy world" I guarantee if you ask 100 people who have adopted at least 99 of them would say their lives have been drastically changes by adoption...for the BETTER! Not that we all weren't scared at the beginning...now we just all know better. It's not always easy but it is always worth it.

This is Pearl, she just turned 3 years old. Isn't she precious. She needs a Mama, don't you agree? She has a heart condition that requires surgery. Usually, it seems kids get surgery while they are in China but she has not yet. I would love to see her find a family super quick. She also has a cleft palate that will need to be corrected at some point once she is home. My heart is aching for her. See what her files says about her personality below...

At the age of 25 months, she could understand the meanings of sentences and carry out the simple orders. Pearl liked to close to me, I interacted with other children no matter where I sat at the activity room, she always sat behind me quietly; sometimes she would put the toy phone to her ear, and press on the number on the homophone. Sometimes she would do a somersault for me, after that she would come to me and sit on my bosom with head lying on my bosom, shaking her legs while smiling; when asking her where was the dog, she not only pointed to the dog picture on the wall but also studied the puppy to call. Now Pearl is 28 months old, every day she will go out to play; once she put on shoes she will go to the elevator and waiting with children together; when reaching the small garden, at first she will enjoy the flowers and touch the tree, and then she holds the tree and hide it, meaning playing game of hide-and-seek with me. Now Pearl not only could have a dinner with spoons but also choose food; she likes to eat rice noodle and wonton; putting the porridge and the rice noodle in front of her, she often choose the rice noodle.She likes to eat dessert and all kinds of fruits and corn. This is Pearl, a young girl who suffers from CHD, and is delicacy but is quiet and sensible and adorable.
And here is some updated info from a few weeks ago: Pearl can walk up and down the stairs holding onto the railing. She counts the steps “one, two, three, four, five..” while walking up the stairs. She kicks the ball with her foot and can throw the ball with both hands. She can play some games with the teachers using her fingers and dance. If she sees other children doing something wrong, she tries to tell the teacher by pointing at the child and say Ah Ah. She is potty trained and knows to wash her hands after going to the bathroom. She can put on and take off her pants and shoes. She goes to bed on her own when it is time to sleep. She feeds herself with a small spoon. She can say “Ba Ba and Ma Ma”. She says Wang Wang to imitate the dogs and says Wo Wo to imitate the roosters. When she sees the teachers, she says “Lao Shi Hao” (Hello, Teacher) and when she leaves she says Bye Bye and blows kisses.

And look at this sweety, Tori...She has already had heart surgery and recovered very well. She is 4 years old. Check out her cuteness and see what her orphanage had to say about her.

She can run and jump comfortably. She can walk up and down stairs by herself. She can say sentences with three to five words in them. She is a little girl who loves to talk, to laugh and to sing and to jump. She recovered very well from her surgery. She is not a picky eater. Tori has outgoing personalities. She loves to talk and laugh. She also cries easily. She likes to listen to music, sing, play with paper, draw, tear paper as a game. She doesn’t like stuffed animals or animal toys. Tori has normal intelligence and her motor development is also very good. Only her language development is somewhat slower than her peers but she has made much progress in this area as well.

To find out more about these precious kids you can leave a comment with your email address or you can contact the agency that has their file here: xqcai@comcast (dot) net

Weekend blessings

2011-05-02T12:24:00.000-07:00

Ok, before I get to the point of my post I have to apologize for the photos from the last post... I was so psyched to try to post from my phone but the photos are the pits...so I am going to try again soon and hope for some better pics...hopefully I can get it to work better!

I just gotta say is there anything better than a big group of families getting together for a potluck picnic, eating off paper plates, letting the kids run wild and spending a beautiful afternoon together? We are so fortunate to have several amazing families blessed with the heart for adoption so close by. We spent a wonderful afternoon together yesterday and I am still buzzing with love for all of them!

The volleyball court turned into a huge sandbox for the littles... and my apologies to anyone who was scrubbing sand out of little hair last night. As I was washing Finn's sandy head, Mina ratted on her and told me she was pouring sand on other kids... So sorry, I am usually not the oblivious Mom that lets her kid terrorize the sandbox. If you have a complaint leave it in the comment section and I will make sure Finn delivers a bottle of "No more tears -shampoo" with an apology letter.

All in all there was over 60 of us... and 6 of those families are waiting for word to travel and get their babies!!!! So exiting! Thanks all for the yummy food!

Ok, you just have to see this adorable family. I just love them so. Not sure if you remember but almost a year ago I wrote this POST...about finding Ty because the sweetest woman came to my house to buy something I was selling on Cr@igslist... and she was wanting to adopt.. Well that precious woman is home with her baby now 3 weeks, and she is just the most precious little thing... LOVE
And this photo of sweet baby Lucy with her Papa just wrecks me... I seriously tear up. Something about a father and his first baby girl....nothing compares to that love.

The littles playing a serious game of corn hole :)

and the big boys played football for hours, my Jackson had a blast.

I love barefoot little girls running around giggling and getting all silly. These two are going to grow up and be party planners... they love a good fiesta!

Such a great day and I feel so blessed to have such an amazing support and friendship with all of these beautiful families!

Brain dump & Testing

2011-04-26T12:42:00.001-07:00

Alright y'all. I am testing this out. I am missing my blog, but not missing the time it takes to keep it up. Especially since I am far from tech savvy. I takes forever to upload pictures and all that jazz, so I figured I would try to post from my phone once in a while. You know when I do have spare time it is usually waiting in a carpool line or on a soccer field or in a doctors office. Those are usually the times when I also have a few coherent thoughts rolling around in my head too. So let's see how this turns out. Here are just a few pics I've snapped with my phone over the last few days.

Love that these guys are getting along so well. Boys are just the best. Little girls are great but they get all the hype. Boys are so easy on their mamas. And the lack of whining and drama is awesome. Let's hear it for the boys!!!!

Here's my Kobi right after her field day. LOVE the socks. We had to hit the w@lmart for fabric for her new sewing machine. It's so refreshing to see her pick out the brightest most obnoxious patterns. Why do we start getting so safe when we grow up. Hope she never becomes a beige /white fabric picker like her old lady.

We are loving the warm weather,we are always playing outside. Love spring

Someone forgot to tell this kid that taking out the trash was a chore. He'd fight you for the privilege. Look at that smile.

Alright. Now here is a burning question out there for all the mamas. Do you have landscape lighting? Do your kids DESTROY it? Here is our lighting graveyard. Is it a lost cause? Do we just rip it out?

It looks so nice when it works. But we are constantly fixing them. Am I alone in my struggle ? I think we have given up :(

Now to see how this turns out. I fear the pictures will be all wonky. It may take a few posts for me to get the bugs out. Hang with me:)

Birthday & Sisters

2011-04-18T12:54:00.000-07:00

Kobi had a birtday this week too. We had a chill family dinner and cake and presents at home with the fam.

The obsession with the "monkey" started with Kobi... her absolute fav.. I frosted this pathetic cake with a butter knife and baggies full of premade icing... so excuse me if it looks like a 6 year old made it...Kobi loved it :)

an always a character...

Kobi's favorite gift... her own sewing machine. she's having a ball with it... (gotta love craigslist for stuff like this )

She also had a little lunch with her girlfriends at the restaurant where Collin works..

.and then we headed over to paint pottery, hands down her favorite crafty place to go :)

decisions..decisions...

This girl wrecks me...so stinkin sweet...

Is there anything better than a little girl full out giggle?

and i know i'm shifting gears here a bit...but i was just thinking about a few years back when I had this twinge of panic when I realized that my girl didn't have a sister. It was probably a selfish thought.. as I had always longed to have a sister. I think those twinges of wishing I could give her a sister is what got me to start really thinking about adopting... which I had always had in the back of my mind but we had really thought our family was complete after 3..hee hee hee hee.... Enter this girl,,, the little sister that changed everything ....

I have to make a mommy confession and say that I LOVE once kids hit the fours...

I love that Kobi and Mina are starting to get that sister bond... for reals and not just that she's my baby sister love... So sweet.

These two girls are polar opposites in EVERY way.. but I think it works out well for them.

Love this photo...

There is nothing better than the gift of sisters... I am so happy that they have each other :)

The Big SIX

2011-04-14T05:34:00.000-07:00

My boy turned 6 this week! He was crazy excited about his birthday... we talked about it for WEEKS leading up....

It was so sweet to see him bask in the attention even though he was a little shy when his class was singing Happy Birthday to him.... He was so thrilled to get to wear the school issued birthday hat... again we talked about it for days prior and he didn't want to take it off :)

Here he is posing for his "6 year old pic" with his infamous fashion accessories...the bandage.. He has a new bandage at LEAST once a week.. his elbows and knees take a beating. I can't count how many boxes of bandaids we go through... and not the little ones, the big mamas. So here is a makeshift -"I can't believe we ran outta bandiads again" bandaid. You can still see the remnants of last weeks battle scar :) This pic is so Ty. I know one day I will forget that he couldn't go 48 hours without a major fall. This is big progress though.. When he was first home I actually put him through some testing because I thought he surely had a problem with his equilibrium/ or inner ear issues.. He fell ALL. THE. TIME.. I didn't realize that he had never played outside and never had to navigate differences in terrain... so grass or incline or stairs would result in a major tumble.

So anyhow, we took him to Chuck E Chee@e for his bday.. He was over the top thrilled. It is usually my most unfavored place in the universe but on a monday night it wasn't so bad... we owned the place :)

Are the kids in your house obsessed with the P@ul Frank monkey???? We are over here, but I like him.. he's pretty cute :)

So during the weeks leading up to his big day, I would ask what present he wanted and every time I got the same reply... "Mama, for my birthday, can I have a balloon". We of course came through with the balloons. He received other gifts too...but none came close to the bouquet of balloons via the Doll@r Store. Big stuff :)

Happy Birthday my big man. You are the bomb-diggity :)

New Family pics...

2011-04-06T13:04:00.000-07:00

We were lucky enough to be able to get our family pics done this weekend by a crazy talented photographer. I feel so blessed to have these pictures...our family has been constantly changing over the past few years and next year will bring more change...but instead of gaining a child we will be watching one go off to college. So it was perfect timing to capture the whole entire & complete family.

Thank you so much Erin for a great photo shoot. It was totally stress free and simple and I can't believe how effortless you made it look to capture these precious moments.

If you live in our area and need your pics done you should check her out at ~~thebomb.com~~ www.madisonlanephotography.com or her fb page Madison Lane Photography. She really is so fantastic!

Never a dull moment

2011-04-04T18:05:00.000-07:00

I love Sunday mornings... I actually try to wake up early on Sunday mornings... I know that goes against the grain but it is my little routine. I wake up before the chaos, sneak downstairs to get my coffee and the paper. I sit in my favorite spot and don't move for a full hour...unless I am refilling my coffee cup. I love this little down time and since we always get the entire crew dressed and out the door to get to 9:30 church service, early is the only way to go. So this particular Sunday, I sneak down the stairs so that I don't wake any of the twerps and go to get my coffee. This is what is sitting right next to my fresh brew....

Seriously! So I don't dare open the box, but what the heck. I hear a fluttering inside the box and I am a little weirded out. I don't like the idea of some unseen creature sitting right next to my coveted coffee mug. So I pick it up and move the box to the laundry room. I know this is the work of Collin, He works late weekend nights so I am usually sleeping when he gets home, and this box on my counter with the big sign is just so.. him.

When he finally wakes up I get the scoop that the bird in the box has a broken wing.. We decide to let the bird live on our sunporch... like a big huge bird cage. The kids all think this is our new pet and name him "Barney". They put out food and water and check on it constantly. I go about my business for a day or two, and then I decide that I should googl@ how to heal a bird with a broken wing and it wasn't pretty. The bird will never fly again.

Then that afternoon the kids get home from school and run out to see Barney... my 7 year old comes running into my bedroom with a dead bird in his hands and he is full out bawling. Kobi is right behind him tears streaming down her cheeks... I quickly instruct my little man to take the bird outside, thank you very much and then we have a long talk about death and how we will see Barney again in Heaven someday.

Never a dull moment around this place.

Oh, and here is some fun news... Look at the cool swag my minivan will be sportin' starting in the fall. My boy is officially college bound

My gift

2011-04-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I received a priceless gift...

Not that kinda gift, but a gift no less. This simple gift has been invaluable to me over the past few months and it was given by a most unlikely person.. Here's how it went down.

Our son Jack had a buddy spend the night. When his parents came by to drop him off they came in and chatted for a bit. They are a fantastic family and Marc and I really like them. As they were leaving our chaotic house, they were telling us how they would be taking their one other child out to dinner and having a low key evening. Well, Marc and I couldn't help but go to that "place" we sometimes go to and started having this little "what-if" conversation with each other.

me: Wow, they probably think that we are insane with all these kids running around and then leaving their child to behave like a hooligan in the back yard with the rest of them.

him: Could you imagine being able to both go out and spend the evening with just one child and doting on them?

me: yeah, that would be great. You could even take one kid to the movies and it wouldn't cost $200.00 like it would for us to take our crew to the movies.

him: yeah, it would be so chill to just have one or two kids..could you imagine what we could actually accomplish in a weekend?

and so on and so on and so on...we go to these places and fantasize about how easy it would be to have 2 kids... it's the old scenario... "the grass is always greener....until you get there"

Anyhow, back to the gift...

So all the kids are playing in the back yard, we cook out and then hang around a bonfire. When it gets dark, they all grab flashlights and run around, hollering, and laughing up a storm. Occasionally, Marc or Grandpa hides behind a tree or playhouse and tries to scare the ba-geebers outta them and they all go wild. Now this is a very typical Saturday night around here. Then it happens... I was given the gift that has gotten me through the last few crazy chaotic months of readjusting with a new child that is just learning all the ropes.

Jack's little friend, in all of his 6 year old wisdom, is standing about a foot away from me trying to find a good hiding spot and he say's these words that have been echoing in my head when I feel overwhelmed. "This is the best day of my LIFE!" His words about knocked me over, he wasn't even talking TO me, he was just saying it out loud. I could feel them sink into my head. I had just been in a little pity party with myself about all of the things that I can't do for my kids since we have such a large brood. And just hours before I had seen his parents and felt a twinge of jealousy over the simplicity of the path they choose. It took the words of a 6 year old to validate me in that moment. You see I saw this little kid having it all...having what I wish I could give to each of my kids... and here he was having the best day of his life in our ordinary moment.

So my gift my not have looked like this:

But its value has been much greater to me. Marc and I have since vowed never to go back to the "what-if" place. There are so many positives to having a large family. There is bound to have a flip-side, but it does my psyche no good to go there. We are blessed, and I am thankful for the small reminders that it's the little things that mean the most.

I must be feeling nostalgic

2011-03-28T11:03:00.000-07:00

I can't even wrap my mind around what a difference 6 months can make in the life of a child. I struggle with how deep to get on this ol' blog sometimes so I guess I can stick with some of the obvious signs. See my adorable boy, I realize that I am crazy biased but I think he is just ridiculously handsome.

Now see this picture, does he not look like a totally different kid.

This boy has put on over 10 pounds in the last 6 months...he gained most of that weight in the first 2 months. I'm so glad to have those chubby cheeks.

10 pounds is a lot for this little guy.. about 30% of his body weight. Here he is again the day we met.

It has been awe inspiring to watch a child grow and learn as much as he has in 6 Months. His behavior was more like a two year old...and now he is about up to age level.

Watching him learn new toys and new behaviors and simple things like running and jumping...which he couldn't do 6 months ago.. it's all just amazing.

The first photo I saw of him was a baby pic... and I just swore he looked so much like Finn. I rarely see a resemblance any more but when I took this photo the other day I caught of glimpse of their similarities again...

Have I ever mentioned how loving this boy is.. I have just never seen anything like it...

Are you ever just in a zone doing something and then "Whack" you hit your elbow, so you simply wince and moan "ouch" to yourself...now has anyone ever paid attention to that complaint... well no one ever listened to me.. until now. If I stub my toe or bump into the cabinet (Yes, I'm a total clutz) and say a simple.."oww". This boy comes running. "Mama, what's wrong. Did you hurt yourself. Do you need a bandaid. Do you need me to rub your back. Can I help you" Seriously this boy loves with a heart bigger than I have ever known. Love you buddy.

Three years...

2011-03-24T04:53:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been three years since this epically life changing day...We walked into the civil affairs office in Hunan China filled with angst and excitement. Our sweet Mina was understandably scared and traumatized. We became a family this day and I am forever grateful.

I know it is a bit cliche to say, "she was born in my heart" but I feel it...just like I felt it this day, and the first day I saw her photo... I knew that face, I knew she was my daughter that I had dreamed about since I was a teenager. I tell her all the time that she is my "dream", since she surely is my dream come true.

She was the tiniest, sweetest, timid, most fragile little thing. But it didn't take her long to open her heart to us.

She has a giggle that can warm the coldest heart.

And those eyes, holy cow. Beauty

We rocked her world a bit when we brought Finn home 14 months later but she has grown into being a wonderful big sister.

Life has been going a mile a minute around here and I got very emotional looking for the photos for this post. She has grown so much in three years. I feel like sometimes I miss the small moments in the chaos. I vow once again to simplify and soak it all in.

Because this is what I am most proud of. This is what I could never accomplish on my "to do" list.

Mina, My dear sweet girl, my dream, my love,

I am so honored to be your Mama. I am so proud of you, and amazed by you.

Sometimes I look at you and see a teenager, you are so wise and insightful.

But you will always be my baby. You are treasured and loved. You have changed my life and soul for the better. I know you will accomplish great things. You have blessed our lives, and we over the top love you!

Here is her gotcha day video. Which we will surely be watching tonight. I will need a box of tissues for sure. I am so thankful for this day.

This beautiful girl needs a family!

2011-03-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

I just have to come to you all and share a piece of my heart. This little girl is so precious and she has been waiting so long for a family. There was a time months ago that there was a late night call to our agency to see if we could bring her home at the same time as Ty, at the time it was an impossibility. Now we are in absolutely no position to adopt again,,,but alas this beautiful girl still waits...and I am heartbroken. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see her find a family! I have prayed for this little one for over a year, and she has never been far from my mind. I had thought for a while she had been matched...but still she waits.

Here is a little bit of what her file says about her:

She is an intelligent lovable girl. She is lively, likes smiling, and gets on well with others. She adapts to the environment quickly. She has strong desire to be a good girl. She attends class on time, listens with single-hearted devotion, and finishes the work promptly. She is polite to people, respects to teachers and seniors and unites schoolmate. She positively joins in all activities at school. She likes looking the child animated cartoon and the children entertainment program, likes singing, dances, and paints pictures and so on.

Doesn't she just have the sweetest face? Can't you see her hair all grown out, and dressed all girlie like?

Could you help me spread the word that this precious girl needs a family? I know she will bring such joy to a family, I can just see it in her sweet face! I can't wait to see hear that she no longer waits!

She is on my agencies individual list as of today. Which just so happens to be the very bestest agency in my opinion. She is part of the special needs program and she has a blood condition..Hepatitis B carrier..which in MY opinion is a complete non issue and will in all likely hood never effect her life or anyone around her. If you want to view her file and consider her for adoption please contact the BAAS China coordinator (a.k.a. my angel on earth), at email address : xqcai@comcast.net

Disney

2011-03-17T07:29:00.000-07:00

We got back from disney a few days ago, and boy does it take me longer to get back into the swing of things after being away for awhile, sheesh. Can anyone say laundry :) Here's our one shot photo op in front of the castle..."hey, Ty, whatcha looking at?"

Me and my boy...love this stinkin' kid. I thought you weren't supposed to like them when they are teenagers? He's my bud...I wish we could take off and travel someplace crazy for a month or two.. We both love a good adventure :)

Now this looks super comfy, right? The girls took their daily much needed naps each day, thank goodness!

Waiting in lines, inevitable disney dilemma.

My little boys are really just starting to bond, and it is so wonderful. Ty was quite intimidated by Jack for the first few months...he preferred to stay closer to the little girls...now he is seeking Jack out a little more.

This pic for some reason looks like a bad night club pic.. but cute of my boys.. are you liking Ty's long hair? He has the best hair in the family by far... thinking of letting him grow it out "Bieber style" just so I can mess with it.

What is it about the ice cream in Disney, it just taste better...and for $40 a pop...it darn well better :)

Do you think the wait staff cringes when they see this rowdy crowd?

Epcot countries... my fav in all of Disney! I could spend days there just eating.

This guy was my shadow the entire trip..."I wanna be Mama's buddy" "I wanna sit next to Mama". He's a mama's boy like I have never seen before,,, i'm not complaining...I'm loving it.

This is what my kitchen feels like at 5:30 every night!

g.o.o.f.-b.a.l.l.s!

I think our local orthodontist is going to love our family in a few years...

We had a super fun trip...we used to be South Florida people and would do Disney every year...I don't think that will be happening anymore... I need a vacation from our vacation...it was fun but exhausting!

2011-02-28T11:01:00.000-08:00

I love boys, I know it is so fun to dress up little girls with the outfits and paint their nails and all. But boys are so much easier, and so much softer, and so loving with so little maintenance. It is a wonderful simple love. I am so happy I get to experience it.

So our very last weekend of our self imposed "no-spend" month went off well. We scrounged up enough coins to ride the train into the city and go to the museum, since we paid with "found" change it felt like it was free. I know that is false but just go with me on this, please. We have an annual family pass to the museum, and if you ride the train you don't have to pay for parking (or CRAZY priced gas). We also packed a lunch so a fun filled FREE day.

We have been to the science museum dozens of times, but the kiddos just can't get enough of it. I don't know why we hadn't taken Ty before today.

He was loving every second. He really soaks in everything. He loves new adventures, he would have been satisfied with the 20 minute ride on the commuter train. His English is getting so much better and I LOVE being able to communicate with him.

I keep asking him all these questions about his time in China. We knew right when we met him that he had very little exposure to the world outside the four walls where he lived. Now he can tell us, and it breaks my heart.

Things that I had assumed are true and things I hadn't even though of...just sad really.

All the kids had a fun day. I can't wait to take them all to Disney in a few weeks. Ty is going to pop. I mean the boy jumped up and down with excitement because I bought grapes at the grocery store the other day. His excitement is contagious... can't wait to see him on Thunder mountain & Small world with a big ol' icecream bar. It will surely be the highlight of my trip :)

All in all our no spend month went really well. I love the perspective it brought to me. If I had to spend a few $'s on something I REALLY considered it. I didn't step foot into a T@rget. and only stopped at the dreadful walm@rt once for V-day candy. We did save enough for Marc and I to go on a little trip this summer, so now I get to do the fun planning part...the payoff!!! We will definitely be doing this every year. I think everyone should try it.. let me know if you do!!!

2011-02-16T11:21:00.000-08:00

So I've said before that my daily mood seems to be 98% based on the weather. Thankfully for all who know and love me we have had some warmer days around here lately. Warm enough actually to get out and do some work around the house. We got the kids all involved in washing our cars this weekend.

I regrettably couldn't help because:

A. I had to take pictures to document the precious milestone of a moment

B. It still isn't warm enough for my coldblooded self to get near the back spray

of a 5 year old holding a hose

C. I didn't want to steal their joy

D. I can be a lazy bones when I wanna be

Anyway the kiddos were way jazzed about wielding a hose and washing the cars...which got me to thinkin' . We need to put these munchkins to work more often. The one thing we have going for us is our manpower numbers.

They all have Saturday morning chores which take them all of about 15 minutes... which I think is pretty ok, especially for the youngest of the brood. And they pretty much clean up after themselves when asked. BUT dinner time around here is N.U.T.S.O! We do eat dinner together as a family at least 6 but usually 7 nights a week, which always consists of me being in the kitchen for a while preparing. Then my super cute hubby does the dishes. Fair and square.

But that dinner time hour is obscene around here so we are thinking we need to give each of the kiddos a chore to go along with dinner time. Just one simple 5-10 minute task to ease the burden but most of all occupy them while moms and pops are getting dinner ON the table or cleaned OFF the table. They know full well to take advantage of the 'rents when they are preoccupied. Plus 6 kids = tons of messes that they could surely participate in, right?

The problem is we are having trouble thinking of things that will actually be helpful.

Last thing I need while I am trying to get dinner on is 5 little ones in the kitchen asking me to help them reach something, open something, or just making it more chaotic in general.

couldn't resist my baby's saggy bottom look :)

Please oh please give me your advice and tips. I don't want to screw these guys up like I screwed this kid up.

I'm telling you.. he is an awesome kid, never gives us any trouble, is respectful and does well in school..but he is a TOTAL slob. My apologies to his future wife, He is the most loyal and driven person I have ever known, but oh how I wish I would have laid out a few more household chores as part of his everyday routine.

his room on a good day :(

PLEASE HELP! I would love a few chore suggestions for the 3-8 year old crew! I am craving a more simplified and structured home...

Love Day

2011-02-14T13:59:00.000-08:00

So love day falls smack in the middle of our no spend month but all is lovey dovey and well over here. We actually "celebrated" last night since everyone was home and Collin didn't have to work. I made everybody's favorite spaghetti ( I love it cause its so darn easy :) ) ! And the kids and I had made some yummy cupcakes with candy cane hearts. I still haven't replaced the chairs that I sold on craigslist so the littles had to sit up at the counter but I tried to make it look all nice and festive. I also poured them all grape juice in fancy wine glasses,,but a few minutes later I realized that was probably a really bad Mommy idea because one of my kiddos was so excited they were drinking wine and kept talking about it all through dinner that it kinda made my skin crawl.. I won't be doing that again.

Then my sweet ~~hubby~~ valentine woke me up this morning and surprised me by telling me that he had taken the day off just to hang with me!!! Since only our littlest and most mellow baby is home on Monday mornings it was a real treat to be able to spend the morning together! Plus he did my laundry for me today (since I always do laundry on Mondays) Yeah..I'm a happy girl, and feeling super loved today.

Now for the debbie downer part of love day....so since when did kids get so fancy schmancy with the valentine card giving? I used to think it was amazing if there was a piece of candy stuck to a random card... but today 4 little kids each came home with a huge bag full of awesomeness... some of the loot included... mixed cd's, gift bags the size of a small puppy, professionally made cards with said childs professional photo and personal message embossed inside, hand made stamped and filled gift boxes with baked goods. You get the picture.

Seriously, come on, seriously, is valentines day becoming that commercial? I refuse to buy in...to that extreme at least. We get the sad little To: & From: fill your name and tape a piece of candy to it kinda a cards and we are sticking to it. That is my stand on that, just in case you were wondering... But you know what it kinda makes me think... Sometimes I feel like I can never do enough.. My house can't be clean enough or stylish enough. My kids aren't in enough sports and they don't play the violin. I wear yoga pants with no intention of working out. I made mac and cheese straight outta the box for lunch the other day. and please what ever you do don't open any one of my 15 junk drawers around the house. All these things are a source of Mommy guilt for me, but for some reason, I see these over the top valentines and I wonder if those people were just trying to keep up, or "one" up, and it makes me feel free from guilt. I don't want to play that game.

Or maybe I am just being too cynical and they were just enjoying a fun little project with their kids... maybe I'm just a grump...maybe I just need some sunshine and I will get over myself...

Anywhoo... Happy Love Day. Hope you all are feeling surrounded by love today! I'm gonna go have a dance party with the kiddos to this new awesome mix cd one of the kids got at school today :) and then probably swipe it for my mini-van...such a hypocrite :)

Loves

for lack of a better topic...

2011-02-10T07:28:00.000-08:00

Things are really mundane around here lately...we are 10 days into our no spend month and when I woke up on Sunday my husband said I was being trendy (I am never trendy) because there were two separate articles in the newspaper about families using February as a no spend month. So I felt a little between validated and pathetic. Our no spend month may not be like the families in the paper who spend less than $10 a week..but I am pretty darn proud of the first week and a half...hopefully we can make it through the long haul. I spent $87 the first week, which was on gas and groceries. Our family grocery budget is insane. We have a family of 8 and every one of us can eat like truckers,especially the littles. For instance when I am grilling up chicken breast for one weeknight dinner I put TEN chicken breast on the grill. That will feed everyone AND if I hide one, Marc can make a lunch for work the next day. So needless to say our grocery bill is higher than our mortgage payment...usually. I do feel a tad guilty that the stash of the cash is going directly into a Mommy and Daddy ONLY vacation fund...but seriously we need to get away and have some time without the constant chore and tag team parenting schedule we have going. I know the kids will benefit from having their parents happy for sure :) Plus the littles don't even realize anything has changed..so far.

I was bummed to have to shell out almost $30 this week on valentines stuff...does that make me a total scrooge ? It's just busting up my cheapo groove that's all.

I'm also spending this month getting organized and getting rid of a bunch of needless stuff.. trying to trash or donate at least one garbage bag o' stuff a day. So all of the time I save from running errands,,, I spend getting stuff in order around here.

So the month of February sure may not be to exciting around here, but it feels like a fresh start. A cleansing of sorts. I will keep you posted about how I am feeling about my lack-luster month in a week or two.

How is that for excitement :)

We do have a family fun side trip in March that has been in the works for months. So we are all looking forward to that as well. Disney on the CHEAP :) Sunshine here we come :)

2011-02-04T09:11:00.000-08:00

So here we go... we are starting the countdown of sorts. There are going to be a lot of these posts I'm sure between now and summer. The end of a childhood and the beginning of letting go. It's bittersweet. This week was the last of Collin's regular season wrestling matches.

So we all went to watch him wrestle, it was Senior night so all the graduating seniors and their parents received special recognition. It was nice.

The kids all made signs and cheered on their big bro...even when he was waiting his turn and warming up :) Here he is as captain, leading his team in stretching, the little kids thought this was kinda funny :)

This sport consumes his every thought. He has to drop THIRTY pounds to wrestle at this weight...and keep it off, and weigh in a few times a week, then get on the mat and wrestle.

He is measuring his water consumption. So you can see how just the mental game of being hungry all day every day for months is enough to consume your every waking moment, plus there is a ton of pressure once on the mat.. and my boy is INTENSE in everything he does. he takes everything seriously. he does nothing half way. even if he's just being a goofball

He has loved wrestling.. and it is sad as he doesn't think he will wrestle in college. But I would be so nervous knowing he was wrestling where I couldn't supervise his daily water intake or drive him to the ER, which is a regular occurrence during wrestling season.. Stitches and x-rays and orthopedics... yeah just a day in the life around here.

So bitter sweet for sure, I will miss watching him compete, I know he loves it so. I will miss that my 'fridge actually has food in it, my boy is so ready to start eating and putting back on his 30 pounds.

I'm sure he will still be at the gym every day. He is also very passionate about health, nutrition, & exercise. Don't ask him a nutrition or exercise question unless you REALLY want to know the answer in every minute detail.

Here is Finn taking a rest while waiting for Collin, his nickname in school is "slinky" it's a long story, that actually isn't that interesting but for whatever the reason the name stuck. It is pretty strange that when talking to parents, I say I'm Collin's mom, and it means nothing.. but when I say , Slinky and they know right away. I even had one parent question me as to why I named him that...sheesh, seriously. He has even had to go as far as getting his name changed to "slinky" on student council ballots 'cause no one would know who "Collin" was :) He is looking forward to shedding the name in college and so am I.

Not sure if this poster was real sportsman like, but the kiddos sure thought it was funny :)

We love you big brother! We will miss you next year, but we can't wait to take over your room :)

2011-02-02T09:31:00.000-08:00

she wrecked me today...why did she have to do it... i was not prepared to face the fact that my baby is three. i mean she holds the baby spot so well. she loves the baby spot, or so i thought. but she had to go and wreck our perfect little game... peek--eeee- boo. she changed it. i must not have told her the rules on that one. but she said a perfect peek -A- boo and i was crushed... i need to find out who taught her the right way to say it and give them a stern talking too. there are a thousand words i want her to say correctly peek-eee-boo is not one of them, thank you very much!

Happy Chinese New Year!

2011-02-01T06:56:00.000-08:00

We got a few of our local families together to celebrate Chinese New Year this past weekend.

That is a lot of kids,, and they all had a blast :)

Everyone outdid themselves and brought the most beautiful and yummy, and plentiful food. But most of all it was so great to get so many amazing and friendly families together...families that we all know and love... families that would all be there for each other whenever we had a problem or just wanted to meet up at the park with last minute notice.

Here's my hubby making 3 plates at once and helping Jackson do his.. I think I asked him to hold my drink while I was taking pics and he looked at me like I was a bit nuts.. not sure why?

Here's the two true party planners...they have been so excited for this party for months, they had craft tables and decorations galore... we let them lead the way and they did a great job.. they had so much fun. They look just a bit happy.

Seriously they even made the ice tea cute :)

And their poster they worked on... so sweet :)

And then there was us,, we were in charge of the clean up :) Thanks ladies, we had a great time!

Why I sometimes feel like the Bachelor...

2011-01-28T07:42:00.000-08:00

Much to my husbands displeasure, I have just started to watch this season of the B@chelor. I've watched two whole episodes and for some reason, I have added it to Tiv0. It's kinda like the cliche train wreck. I feel for these woman, and why they felt the need to go on a show like that, and I pray that my daughters would never do anything remotely similar...I would be crushed.

Anywhoo...I also have my moments lately where my life somewhat resembles this show, at least in my own twisted head :) Let me give you and example with a 20 minute excerpt of my life...

First let me set the stage...

1.) Early in the morning Ty likes to be the first one awake so he can sneak in my room, climb under the covers and have 30 minutes of undivided mama love. Well, this morning, much to his chagrin, he came into my room and sweet Finnley had already taken his coveted spot. Boy looked like he got kicked in the gut. We quickly made room for him, and gave lots of kisses and cuddles but you could tell he was crushed.

2.) Mina has been doing really good lately. We have been working on her using her words when she is feeling anxious. The "mantra" goes something like this, "Mina baby, if you need some cuddles and attention you have to tell me. If you need to have some space and alone time you have to tell me. But you can not act "freaky" to me. Okay baby? " "Okay, Mommy". It sounds a little harsh but it is the simplest way to get the point across and she totally gets it. She used to get anxious and go to this scary place, and then when you talked to her she would get n.a.s.t.y! The freaky looks something like this...

or this...

or this... it is just this kinda far out place where she climbs outta herself. It scares me, it makes me sad...But she is getting better and using her words!!! Yippee.

Ok, so stage set.

So this morning we are of course running a little behind schedule. The little 3 are sitting at the counter eating breakfast, which they "helped" prepare. I am rushing around (shocker). When Mina so nicely says, " Mama, when I finish my breakfast will you cuddle with me?" So I say "Of course baby doll, I would love to cuddle with you." For a second I beam inside because my girl is feeling anxious and she just says she needs me, love it. So one second passes and Ty is in on it looking as anxious as ever and he says, " Mama, no you cuddle with me..when I finish breakfast, you cuddle me!"

Slam, so here we go, now we are juggling the contestants. I know I am going to have to channel my inner bachelor right about now. These two are in a race for my affection. I can't wait until they understand that I don't just have one rose, one proposal, I am NOT the bachelor. I am their Mama and my heart has grown so large that it is near popping these last few years. I love these kids like crazy, all of them and I need to make them feel it.. all at the same time.

So, I say to Ty, "baby, after breakfast I am going to cuddle Mina while you get ready for school, and then I will cuddle with you, okay?" His response...silence as he scarfs down the rest of his breakfast and runs upstairs to get changed. The race is ON.

Mina finishes soon after so I scoop her up and carry her upstairs, we cuddle. I hold her close and sing her a few outta tune verse of you are my sunshine. (Ty is peeking in the door the whole time) Then I carry her to the bathroom cause she needs a tissue. I end up sitting on the toilet (seat cover down, thank you very much) and wiping her nose and talking to her.

Ty rushes right in... "Mama, I have to go potty" To which I say, "Ty, go in Mama's bathroom and go potty" and he responds with a mischievous little grin...he knows I know what he is up to he wants me to put Mina down and move outta the way :)

I return my attention to Mina, I say, " Mina, I love you, you are so special, did you know you are my heart, you are my dream?" To which she replies, " Mama do you love Ty, is Ty special, is Finn special" What she MEANS is, "Mama, I need to know you love me best, I don't want to compete with these other contestants." So I say, "You do not need to worry about my love for Ty and Finn...just know that I love you, you are so special, you are my girl, I want to glue you to my body and walk around with you for the rest of my life (this I know is her secret dream :))" " "Now baby, go on down stairs and get your shoes and your backpack ready for school. We have to leave in a few minutes and Mama isn't even dressed."

So Mina scurries away and Ty is right there waiting for me. I scoop him up and take him into my room, I hold him like a two year old while we talk and I try to get my clothes out for the day. (we have about 5 minutes until we need to leave the house) I pick out my clothes and we go sit on my bed. I hold him like a newborn (his favorite) and sing the "B@rney" I love you, you love me song to him. I rub his sweet face, cuddle him, tell him how much I love him. Then smooch on him 'till he is a pile of giggles. We are now officially late. Then I say, "okay baby, Mama needs to get dressed so we can get to school, go get your shoes on and your backpack ready" His reply, "no mama, I stay here, you get dressed, then you come cuddle with me"

Needless to say we were super late. and I feel sad because I know that it will take so much more of this juggling to make these two feel secure in my love for them. I am not good a juggling, I am not that coordinated, and I get a little exhausted.

I don't know how the B@chelor does it... All these crazy insecure woman that sign up for this heartbreak. It's not normal to see your mate playing the field, I get it. But me, I'm not a mate, I am a Mama, I have got to spread the love. It feels so strange to hug one child, and look over and see the look of pain and jealously on another child's face.... But this is what I signed up for, I won't walk away. I will play the game, and I am determined to win. Most of all I am determined to make sure that THEY ALL win!

trivial girl stuff

2011-01-26T07:32:00.000-08:00

I was so excited a few months ago when we moved into our new house. I was amped to make a bunch of changes, to paint, to decorate and to have "projects" for myself. I love a good project! Well, a month after we moved in we decided to bring home Ty, so all of the projects went to the back burner... I could have cared less about anything but bringing my boy home. But now that we are home and ~~settled~~ surviving... I need a good project to get myself back a little. It may sound like I am just making myself more busy work, but I really enjoy it.

We have this one space that in the few short months we have been here has been through 3 transitions. Since we live in the South we don't have a mudroom, so I tried to create this little space for the kids to drop their shoes and backpacks, this was the second try.... and I will admit that this is what it looked like after it was cleaned up.. and no less than 17 jackets, sweatshirts and bags were taken off the top of this bench. It was the first thing I saw when I came home (through the garage) and it stressed me out.

So thanks to Cr@igslist...I came up with this solution that is working wonders! Everyone has their own little space, even Ma & Pa :) The kids think it is really cool too and they decorate the inside of their lockers with little pictures, and I even have gotten a few little " I love Mommy" love notes taped inside mine. That is what I shoulda taken a photo of, darn. but I'm too lazy to do it now.

Anyhow, when we were holed up in our house a couple weeks ago due to the snow/ice storm of 2011... I started to get frustrated with my surroundings...and put our dining room set and our kitchen tableon cr@igslist, and sold them both..

so now we are a family of 8 with nowhere to sit :) I feel so sorry for my hubby and the amount of crazy that I bring to his simple content self.

We are in desperate need of some paint throughout the house, this builder beige makes me sad. I also need to figure out a solution for my kitchen which completely brings me down.. those dark cabinets are my nemesis... Oh how I wish the previous owners would have just left the old ones in so ~~my hubby would let me~~ I could paint the bottom ones and put open shelving up top. This dark space is suffocating to me :(

I did find a new kitchen table.. It is super cool, made out of an old barn door..but I don't have any chairs :) You can see a hint of the table in this photo.. I will show it again once I figure out the seating issues :)

Off to figure out some paint colors :)

Roadtrippin'

2011-01-17T16:12:00.000-08:00

We decided last minute to jump in the car early Sunday morning and soak in some more winter fun...

We packed up our sleds and headed to the NC mountains where there has been a ton of snow lately. We stayed at this little spot, it is modest, but it is very clean and always has tons of games, movies, and snacks readily available...and the inn keepers are crazy nice...We love it 'cause it's affordable and they had last minute availability to house our crazy crew. They also gave us some tips of some great free sledding spots that most tourist don't know about... We had a blast

It was perfect weather, tons of snow, but not to cold or windy.. we all ended up tossing our jackets and spent the day playing. I even whipped up a crockpot full of chili right before we left, which I plugged in as soon as we checked in.. then when we were done playing.. dinner was ready and waiting. (another cheapo score)

Yeah even the biggest kids had a great time.

A serious moment from my little beauty...her eyes are so soulful.

I will be putting bricks on these two hooligans heads while they sleep tonight.. I need to make them stop growing..

I played around with taking these "hill" pictures...I think they are funny.. wish I would have kept it up and taken some better ones.. I will be trying this again next time I find a good spot 'round here :)

His pocket sized Mini-me.

Ma & Pa

I loved that I had my camera when I walked in on this little sister moment... melt a mama's heart.

Fun times that are worth all of the laundry piles and unpacking :)

Patience

2011-01-15T12:00:00.000-08:00

I could list a million reasons that I am not a very patient woman. But this is the one that is bothering me today...so excuse me while I ramble about it for a moment. It is not only patience but it is sadness too. Its actually patience, sadness, confusion, and a bit of anger if I really want to lay it out there. See this little guy.

He is just about the sweetest little boy in the whole world.. his heart is what amazes me...He loves like no person I have ever known. I tell people sometimes that no one has ever loved me the way this child loves me. I really mean that...but it saddens me the way he loves me... is that absurd? It probably is, but it just hurts that I know he had be longing for a mama for so long. Anyhow, this is what is bugging me lately. I really want to know EVERYTHING that went on with him in China! I know I will not learn everything, but at least somethings. A new Asian market opened up just a few miles from us (cool, right?) so we went to go check it out this morning. As soon as we went in it reminded me of china..the smell the hanging lanterns and red knot decorations, it was great. But right away my boy clammed up. You could tell he got very nervous and wanted to sit in the baby part of the cart, when he usually wants to roam the aisles and check everything out.

Since the day we met in China he refused to speak Chinese, even to the guides. He stopped talking to Collin in Chinese about 3 days after getting home, and we had so hoped he could keep his language. Not a chance. AND he gets upset when he sees pictures of his orphanage... or when he watches his gotcha video (which he loves), he covers my face when we get to the part of his nannies and friends, and he just says, "no, no, no". It makes me so sad. I really want to start asking him some questions so I can write all of his memories down. He did point out a few things around his room in the orphanage in the one photo where there was no people in the photo. He would look at it and show me where he washed his hands and where he slept and which little shoes were his. His language isn't at the point where we could have in depth conversations, but it just all makes me so sad. He has never for a second grieved his life in China. Is it ridiculous of me to want to dig deeper so we can work through it all? Isn't he going to start forgetting soon, so we won't be able to piece the puzzle together for him in the future. Is it wrong to just leave it all in the past and just move forward. 5 1/2 years living in an orphanage, his room on the second floor, and when we met he didn't know how to walk up and down stairs, had never been to a playground, had never held a pencil, had never seen or touched an animal. But somewhere along the way he was taught to give near professional massages... boy can work out some kinks in your neck. And he learned to love and treat others so well, he is so kind and loving and cuddly, someone must have loved on him, right?

So today I am impatient to get some answers, to heal, to forgive, to help him forgive, to communicate fully with my little man, and for him to know and understand fully my love for him.

He did settle right down this morning after we left the Asian market, we picked up some Chinese style buns for lunch and took them to the park. He gobbled those up like nobodies business and his cheerful self was right back in action. This process is such an emotional one... I wish I could just change the course of history and show up the day my kiddos were born, scoop them up and fix it all....wouldn't that be so wonderful!